Mechanically Assisted Low-Temperature Pyrolysis of Hydrocarbons

Abstract

The focus of the study is experimental setups and conditions leading to pyrolysis (cracking) of such gaseous hydrocarbons as methane, mixed propane and butane, at the temperatures of the heater below 200˚C. The process was mechanically assisted by putting the substances being decomposed into a dynamic interaction with the fractal interfaces of cracks in titanium dioxide films, as well as in tin and bismuth alloy. During a trial, the alloy was periodically heated and cooled so that it changed its phase state, and fractal interfaces were created between its surface and the gases. The interaction of the gases with fractal surfaces of the alloy being produced by mechanical fracturing made it possible to obtain gas cracking even at the lower temperatures of the heater (150˚C). It should be noted that at this temperature, the heater couldn’t melt the alloy in the heated volume with the gas.