Project Overview

Natural gas pyrolysis is an attractive emerging technology because it generates hydrogen without the production of scope-one CO2 as compared to traditional methane steam reforming and water-gas shift reaction. Carbon black or carbon nanotubes (CNT) are formed as a by-product and may offset the cost of hydrogen. The energy requirement for hydrogen generation through methane pyrolysis is less than 40 kJ/mol vs. 286 kJ/mol for water splitting. The lower energy requirement, abundance of natural gas, and availability of existing infrastructure for transport make this emerging technology more attractive than water electrolysis for hydrogen production.

Methane pyrolysis has attracted significant attention worldwide. However, due to thermodynamic limitations, high temperatures are required even in the presence of catalysts. The novelty of our approach is to use induction heating to heat only catalyst metal nanoparticles, where pyrolysis happens. For metal plate heating, the energy efficiency of induction heating was reported to be as high as 93% vs. combustion (30%) or electrical furnace (35%). Induction heating heats only the target area (here, catalytic nanoparticles); the heating is fast (up to 1,000 degrees/min) and safe. Reactor and gas flow heating is not needed, but only the catalyst metal nanoparticles, which reduces energy requirement as opposed to conventional heating. This approach will also allow electrical energy storage and conversion to hydrogen with natural gas as feedstock. In this project, inductive heating will be investigated and optimized for iron-catalyzed methane pyrolysis to produce turquoise hydrogen and CNT.