ANÁLISIS TEÓRICO DE LA DESCOMPOSICIÓN TÉRMICA CATALÍTICA DE GAS METANO PARA LA OBTENCIÓN DE HIDRÓGENO (H2) LIBRE DE EMISIONES CONTAMINANTES (CO2) EN UN REACTOR TUBULAR.

Abstract

Abstract In this work, a theoretical analysis of the thermal-catalytic decomposition of methane into hydrogen and carbon black particle, with free carbon dioxide genetation is presented. In order to predict the influence of the temperaturedependent properties, the coupled equations of mass conservation, momentum, species, energy of the carbon black particles and the gas were solved simultaneously. Different dimensionless parameters appear in the equations that explain the thermal decomposition of methane. The most representative parameters in the phenomenon are π3 and π7, which represent the effects of the wall-reactor temperature and the capability that the carbon black particles and the gas have to transport energy between them. The results show that when the temperature-dependent properties are included in the analysis, a bigger length is required to obtain the maximum decomposition, which is related with the gas temperature. Moreover, when the value of the parameters π3 and π7 are increased, the rapid decomposition is increased and the needed length to obtain the decomposition of methane is significatively reduced. viii