A Digital Model for the Reactor of Laser Non-Oxidative Methane Conversion into Hydrocarbons

Abstract To study the non-oxidative conversion of natural gas into valuable hydrocarbons and hydrogen, a digital model was developed for the reactor, in which laser radiation acts on a two-phase reaction medium consisting of a gas with suspended solid catalytic nanoparticles. The countercurrent flows of this gas-dust medium in the axially symmetric reactor tube absorb radiation in the area of their collision. Heat exchange with the wall along the length of a reactor with laser radiation during endothermic methane conversion was investigated. Laser radiation introduced into the medium locally increases its temperature at the outlet of resulting products from the reactor and shifts their composition towards aromatic compounds. The wall temperature of 1173 K and radiation provided the conversion of methane to hydrocarbons and hydrogen at a level of 65%. The combination of traditional and laser methods of energy transfer to the reaction medium is shown to be promising to control the selectivity of non-oxidative methane conversion.