Methane Pyrolysis in Molten Potassium Chloride: An Experimental and Economic Analysis

Jinho Boo, Eun Hee Ko, No-Kuk Park, Changkook Ryu, Yo-Han Kim, Jinmo Park and Dohyung Kang
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Jinho Boo: Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 38541, Korea
Eun Hee Ko: School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, 280 Daehak-ro, Gyeongsan 38541, Korea
No-Kuk Park: Institute of Clean Technology, Yeungnam University, 280 Daehak-ro, Gyeongsan 38541, Korea
Changkook Ryu: School of Mechanical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Korea
Yo-Han Kim: H 2 Technology, R&D Division, KOGAS Research Institute, 950 Incheonsinhang-Daero, Yeonsu-Gu, Incheon 21993, Korea
Jinmo Park: H 2 Technology, R&D Division, KOGAS Research Institute, 950 Incheonsinhang-Daero, Yeonsu-Gu, Incheon 21993, Korea
Dohyung Kang: School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, 280 Daehak-ro, Gyeongsan 38541, Korea

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 23, 1-15

Abstract: Although steam methane reforming (CH 4 + 2H 2 O → 4H 2 + CO 2 ) is the most commercialized process for producing hydrogen from methane, more than 10 kg of carbon dioxide is emitted to produce 1 kg of hydrogen. Methane pyrolysis (CH 4 → 2H 2 + C) has attracted much attention as an alternative to steam methane reforming because the co-product of hydrogen is solid carbon. In this study, the simultaneous production of hydrogen and separable solid carbon from methane was experimentally achieved in a bubble column filled with molten potassium chloride. The melt acted as a carbon-separating agent and as a pyrolytic catalyst, and enabled 40 h of continuous running without catalytic deactivation with an apparent activation energy of 277 kJ/mole. The resultant solid was purified by water washing or acid washing, or heating at high temperature to remove salt residues from the carbon. Heating the solid product at 1200 °C produced the highest purity carbon (97.2 at%). The economic feasibility of methane pyrolysis was evaluated by varying key parameters, that is, melt loss, melt price, and carbon revenue. Given a potassium chloride loss of <0.1 kg of salt per kg of produced carbon, the carbon revenue was calculated to be USD > 0.45 per kg of produced carbon. In this case, methane pyrolysis using molten potassium chloride may be comparable to steam methane reforming with carbon capture storage.

Keywords: methane decomposition; molten salt; hydrogen production; carbon production; process simulation; economic analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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