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Generating Hydrogen Gas from Methane with Carbon Captured as Pure Spheroidal Nanomaterials
Author(s) -
Cornejo Andrew,
Zhang Weike,
Gao Lizhen,
Varsani Rahi R.,
Saunders Martin,
Iyer K. Swaminathan,
Raston Colin L.,
Chua Hui Tong
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201100532
Subject(s) - methane , hydrogen , carbon fibers , nanomaterials , materials science , environmental science , nanotechnology , chemistry , composite material , organic chemistry , composite number
Abstract Energy production by using hydrogen gas as a feedstock is considered to be one of the keys to creating clean energy, with the proviso that the gas is generated in a sustainable way with no emissions. A simple, self‐sustaining process generating hydrogen gas from methane using inexpensive stainless steel wire‐mesh catalysts at elevated temperatures (800 °C) is reported. A theoretical analysis of the production of electricity by this process revealed peak chain energy efficiencies up to 21 % (emission free) when using a percentage of the produced hydrogen (approximately 40 % of purified yield) as the heat source. In addition, a practical method has been developed to purify the carbon byproduct, affording essentially pure highly graphitic spheroidal carbon for advanced materials applications.