Techno-Economic Analysis of Methane Pyrolysis in Molten Metals: Decarbonizing Natural Gas

Parkinson, Brett; Matthews, Joshua W.; McConnaughy, Thomas B.; Upham, D. Chester; McFarland, Eric W.

doi:10.1002/ceat.201600414

Techno-Economic Analysis of Methane Pyrolysis in Molten Metals: Decarbonizing Natural Gas

Journal Article · Mon Feb 27 00:00:00 EST 2017 · Chemical Engineering and Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/ceat.201600414· OSTI ID:1533129

Parkinson, Brett ^[1]; Matthews, Joshua W. ^[2]; McConnaughy, Thomas B. ^[3]; Upham, D. Chester ^[4]; McFarland, Eric W. ^[5]

Univ. of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD (Australia); DOE/OSTI
Loughborough Univ. (United Kingdom)
Univ. of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD (Australia)
Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)
Univ. of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD (Australia); Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)

In this work, methane pyrolysis using a molten metal process to produce hydrogen is compared to steam methane reforming (SMR) for the industrial production of hydrogen. Capital and operating cost models for pyrolysis and SMR were used to generate cash-flow and production costs for several different molten pyrolysis systems. The economics were most sensitive to the methane conversion and the value obtained for the solid carbon by-product. The pyrolysis system at 1500 °C is competitive with a carbon tax of $$\$$78 t^{-1}$; however, if a catalytic process at 1000 °C were developed using a conventional fired heater, it would be competitive with SMR without a carbon dioxide cost penalty. Several pyrolysis alternatives become competitive with increasing carbon dioxide taxes.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: FG02-89ER14048

OSTI ID:: 1533129

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1400609

Journal Information:: Chemical Engineering and Technology, Journal Name: Chemical Engineering and Technology Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 40; ISSN 0930-7516

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Hydrogenation of Inorganic Metal Carbonates: A Review on Its Potential for Carbon Dioxide Utilization and Emission Reduction Lux, Susanne; Baldauf-Sommerbauer, Georg; Siebenhofer, Matthäus ChemSusChem, Vol. 11, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.201801356	journal	August 2018
Catalytic molten metals for the direct conversion of methane to hydrogen and separable carbon Upham, D. Chester; Agarwal, Vishal; Khechfe, Alexander Science, Vol. 358, Issue 6365 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aao5023	journal	November 2017

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