Non-catalytic methane pyrolysis: Influence of reactor temperature on the yields of hydrogen, acetylene, and carbon nanoparticles and its turbostratic structure

Methane pyrolysis (MP), where CH 4 is thermally decomposed to H 2 and solid carbon is a CO 2 free H 2 production technique. By performing non-catalytic MP experiments in the temperature range of 1100°C-1700 °C we showed that the produced carbon nanoparticles (CNP) have a similar elemental composition (C, H, O, and N) and turbostratic nanostructure compared to rubber grade carbon black (CB) if the reactor temperature is ∼1400 °C with 100% conversion of the CH 4 to CNP, C 2 H 2 , and H 2 with product yields of ∼0.53 g/g fuel , ∼0.23 g/g fuel , and ∼0.24 g/g fuel , respectively. By increasing the reactor temperature above 1400 °C, further decomposition of the C 2 H 2 to CNP and H 2 occurs, and the theoretical yield of 0.75 g/g fuel of CNP and 0.25 g/g fuel H 2 could be reached. However, the turbostratic nanostructure of the CNP at higher temperatures was too graphitized compared to rubber grade CB and instead more like electro conductive CB.