Thermal cracking of methane in a liquid metal bubble column reactor: Experiments and kinetic analysis

Experimental investigation and thermo-chemical modeling of methane pyrolysis in a liquid metal bubble column reactor with a packed bed

“…Due to the presence of liquid tin at temperatures up to 1173 K in combination with a stainless steel reactor concept, corrosion dominated their experiments. While Serban et al [26] claimed a strong catalytic effect of tin and lead, Plevan et al [27], including the authors of this paper, have not found this effect in their experiments so far. The current study focuses on experimental investigation and thermo-chemical modeling of hydrogen production in a liquid metal bubble column reactor with a packed bed inventory using pure methane as feed gas for the pyrolysis process.…”

“…The current study focuses on experimental investigation and thermo-chemical modeling of hydrogen production in a liquid metal bubble column reactor with a packed bed inventory using pure methane as feed gas for the pyrolysis process. In contrast to Plevan et al [27] a new reactor material selection enabled higher and various liquid metal temperatures without corrosion issues. The utilization of a packed bed inventory instead of pure tin enhanced the gas residence time in the reactor and thus led to higher hydrogen yields.…”

“…One of the first experimental investigations of methane cracking in liquid metal was published by Steinberg [25] and later followed by Serban et al [26], who conducted experiments using a stainless steel feed tube or a porous metal sparger, injecting the methane gas from the top into liquid tin or lead, with or without SiC serving as a packed bed. With a packed bed/tin combination and a porous metal sparger, Serban et al [26] achieved 57% methane conversion at 1023 K. Recent work has been presented by Plevan et al [27], who injected the gas from the bottom via a single-hole orifice into a stainless steel bubble column reactor filled with tin, without applying a packed bed. With this setup, they achieved a maximum methane conversion of 18% at 1173 K, although most of the conversion likely occurred in the gas phase above the liquid metal part.…”

Capturing spatially resolved kinetic data and coking of Ga–Pt supported catalytically active liquid metal solutions during propane dehydrogenationin situ

“…[13][14][15][16] Conversely, SCALMS employ liquid metals allowing for high temperature applications, because virtually no decomposition may occur for a solution of elementary metals. [10][11][12] While other concepts for catalysis over liquid metals require large volumes of liquid metal in a reactor, 17,18 SCALMS materials are composed of dispersed supported droplets of a liquid alloy consisting of a catalytically active metal and an excess of a low melting point metal, e.g. Ga. [10][11][12]19 The catalytic reaction in SCALMS occurs exclusively at the liquid metal/gas interface.…”

Lowering the Carbon Footprint of Steel Production Using Hydrogen Direct Reduction of Iron Ore and Molten Metal Methane Pyrolysis

“…Using a liquid metal bubble column reactor solves the problem of carbon deposition as carbon is insoluble in molten metal and can be easily scraped off from top of the molten metal surface.57% CH 4 conversion rate was achieved by bubbling natural gas through mott porous metal filters,in a bed of either tin or tin and silicon carbide at 750°C by [42].Liquid metal coolants from fourth generation nuclear reactors were considered as the heat source.Molten tin was used as the heat transfer metal by [43].They found that molten tin does not have any catalytic impact but inhibits production of intermediate products. Molten tin was used in a quartz glass-steel bubble column reactor by [44],to conduct experimental studies on decomposition of methane.Maximum hydrogen yield of 78% was achieved during the experiments.Only 1.5% intermediate products were formed during all experimental runs.Liquid metal temperature,gas flow rate and residence time were found to be the most important factors affecting hydrogen production.Carbon formed during the reaction was found to be completely separated on the top surface of the liquid metal.Trace amounts of carbon nano-tubes(CNT) were formed at the quartz glass reactor wall.Small quantity of carbon particles were transported with the off-gas stream.Effect of inlet gas dilution was evaluated in the study,by mixing the inlet stream with nitrogen.In their earlier work,the researchers had achieved a conversion efficiency of 30% [45].A process set-up,for industrial production of hydrogen was proposed by [40],using molten iron in the bubble column reactor and using an electric heater to produce molten metal.By conducting a techno-economic analysis,the authors estimated that hydrogen can be produced at 1.72 kg − 1,with a natural gas price of $3 MMBTU − 1.A new system for production of H 2 using methane pyrolysis in a liquid metal bubble column reactor coupled with a DRI shaft furnace and EAF system has been proposed.…”