Hydrogen Production by Methane Autothermal Pyrolysis in a Moving Bed Reactor with Separate Supply of Reactants

The hydrocarbon fuel conversion in a filtration combustion reactor with a moving solid bed to produce hydrogen is theoretically investigated. The process can be implemented in reactors with energy recovery with separate supply of reagents. The entire process in the reactor can be divided into two zones: the fuel pyrolysis zone and the hydrogen partial oxidation zone. The fuel pyrolysis occurs due to the use of heat from partial oxidation of the fuel pyrolysis products. The target product is hydrogen, and also contains solid carbon as a product (no CO2 emissions). The mass-energy balance of the process is calculated. The products analysis is carried out under conditions of thermodynamic equilibrium. It has been shown that the theoretical maximum efficiency of methane conversion with oxygen (or air) in terms of hydrogen yields is 85%. The process combines the advantages of fuel pyrolysis (no CO2 emissions) and filtration combustion (superadiabatic temperature).