Kinetic model of homogeneous thermal decomposition of methane and ethane

In this paper, the homogeneous decomposition of methane and ethane is modeled in a well stirred flow reactor. The kinetics of this process is represented by a reaction mechanism of 242 reactions and 75 species, based on a mechanism developed for hydrocarbon combustion and soot formation. It is shown that this model correctly predicts the hydrogen yield from pyrolysis in a temperature range of 600–1600 °C, and pressure range of 0.1–10 atm. Furthermore, the effect of temperature, pressure and residence time on the amount of hydrogen produced from the decomposition of methane, ethane, natural gas, and a mixture of methane and argon is studied. The model predicts that the use of ethane or its addition to methane increases the speed of hydrogen production at low temperatures and pressures. The addition of a noble gas like argon also increases the yield of hydrogen at high pressures.