Hydrocarbon pyrolysis with a methane focus: A review on the catalytic effect and the coke production

Guillaume Fau (1) , Nicolas Gascoin (1) , Johan Steelant (2)

1 PRISME - Laboratoire Pluridisciplinaire de Recherche en Ingénierie des Systèmes, Mécanique et Energétique [2008-2013]
2 ESTEC - European Space Research and Technology Centre

8 Hydrocarbon pyrolysis has been widely studied since the 1900's for applications in aerospace as a 9 fuel and/or coolant or for use with fuel cells and hydrogen production with a catalyst. In this context, the 10 role of heterogeneous reactions with homogeneous phase chemistry is unclear despite the fact that it is 11 obviously at the heart of coupled physico-chemical phenomena. In addition, the thermal formation of 12 solid carbon particles-coke, which can be deposited on the structure, impacts the heterogeneous 13 reactions. The aim of this work is to review the available literature on hydrocarbon pyrolysis involving 14 reactions with solid surfaces and coke particles. The influent parameters such as the nature of the fluid, 15 the temperature (up to 2000 K), the pressure (up to 100 bars), the residence time (µs order to min order), 16 the reactor type (plug flow, batch, perfectly stirred reactor) and the type of catalyst (inert, metallic or 17 more complex such as zeolites) are discussed. Then, a link between catalicity and coke production is 18 addressed. This literature survey focuses in particular on methane because of the growing interest 19 regarding the potential for hypersonic applications. 20 2

Keywords: hydrocarbon pyrolysis; review; catalicity; coke production 21 22

Domains: Analytical chemistry; Chemical and Process Engineering; Reactive fluid environment; Fluids mechanics [physics.class-ph]

Guillaume Fau, Nicolas Gascoin, Johan Steelant. Hydrocarbon pyrolysis with a methane focus: A review on the catalytic effect and the coke production. Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis, 2014, ⟨10.1016/j.jaap.2014.05.022⟩. ⟨hal-01253268⟩