Pyrolysis of methane via thermal steam plasma for the production of hydrogen and carbon black

Methane pyrolysis for the production of hydrogen and solid carbon was studied in plasma reactor PlasGas equipped with a DC plasma torch with the arc stabilized by a water vortex. Steam plasma is produced by direct contact of electric arc discharge with water surrounding the arc column in a cylindrical torch chamber. The composition of the gas produced was compared with the results of the equilibrium calculations for different flow rates of input methane. We have found that for the net plasma power 52 kW the optimal flow rate of the input methane was between 200 slm and 300 slm, for which high methane conversions of 75% and 80% are achieved. For the flow rate of 500 slm, the methane conversion is only 60%; however, the output still consists of a mixture of hydrogen, methane and solid carbon, without other unwanted components. For the flow rate of 100 slm, the methane conversion is 88%. For 100 and 200 slm of input methane the energy excess for the reaction with respect to the calculated value is 16 kW and 4 kW. On the other hand, for 300 and 500 slm of input methane we have the energy lack of 10 kW and 38 kW. The solid carbon produced was composed of well-defined spherical particles of the size about 1 μm. Comparison with the steam and dry reforming of methane in the same system shows that the presence of oxygen increases the methane conversion, despite lower available energy produced.