Numerical investigation of the plasma chemical pyrolysis of methane

Currently, a lot of attention from researchers around the world is being paid to the problem of obtaining cheap hydrogen fuel for power plants from various raw materials. The cheapest way to produce hydrogen from hydrocarbon raw materials is plasma chemical pyrolysis. The article is devoted to the problem of modeling the workflow in a plant for producing hydrogen from methane by its conversion during plasmochemical pyrolysis. The proposed mathematical model for describing the process of methane pyrolysis has been developed taking into account soot formation. The pyrolysis process and the flow of pyrolysis products in the reactor are modeled. The calculation results are compared with the experimental data obtained on the chemical composition of pyrolysis products. The factors influencing the increase in the yield of useful products have been identified. The simulation has established the value of the reduced power equal to 7.8 kWh/kg, which ensures the maximum yield of acetylene in pyrolysis products and close to the maximum yield of hydrogen. Obtaining the maximum possible hydrogen yield in the simulated installation will require a 3-times increase in the reduced power (up to 21.8 kWh/kg), which is economically impractical.
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