Enhanced ethylene production from methane via rapid pulsed joule heating under non-oxidative conditions

Non–oxidative upgrading of methane to value-added chemicals, such as ethylene, provides a carbon–efficient route for the petrochemical industry. However, conventional thermochemical processes operating under near-equilibrium continuous heating conditions are constrained by low productivity, inferior selectivity, rapid catalyst deactivation, and high energy consumption. Accordingly, in this study, a rapid pulsed Joule heating (RPJH) reactor was employed to convert methane to ethylene under non-oxidative conditions. Temporally modulated heating–quenching cycles, occurring in milliseconds, enhanced the ethylene selectivity by suppressing consecutive C–C couplings that led to coke formation. A simplified kinetic analysis supported that limiting the effective high-temperature exposure suppressed secondary dehydrogenation and carbon-growth pathways. Consequently, the RPJH system achieved a 47–fold higher electrical energy utilization than that in the case of conventional continuous heating. Coupling the RPJH reactor with a Pd/CeO 2 hydrogenation zone further increased the ethylene yield by 1.3 times through the transformation of residual acetylene. This study demonstrates that the RPJH approach enables highly energy-efficient methane upgrading under dynamic electrified conditions and can be extended to other endothermic reactions requiring rapid thermal control. • Rapid pulsed Joule heating (RPJH) enables non-oxidative methane upgrading • Millisecond heating–quenching increases ethylene selectivity and suppresses coke formation • RPJH achieves 47-fold higher electrical energy utilization than conventional continuous heating • Hydrogen co-feeding shifts the C2 product distribution and partially mitigates deactivation • Downstream Pd/CeO 2 removes residual acetylene without an external heater by leveraging sensible heat in the RPJH effluent