Characterization of Carbon Products Produced by Catalytic Pyrolysis of Methane

Catalytic pyrolysis of natural gas (NGCP), a chemical process that transforms methane (CH 4 ) (natural gas into hydrogen and solid carbon without a CO 2 byproduct [1-3], has been proposed as a near term solution for the production of hydrogen, while proposed alternative hydrogen production technologies are demonstrated and, upon being demonstrated as viable, allowed to mature.For NGCP to be successfully implemented, the generated carbon products need to be value added and aligned with target markets so that they can handle the influx of carbon products generated in combination with hydrogen.The alignment of the various generated carbon products within the targeted markets entails selectivity tailoring the properties and allotropes to maximize the value-added character of the material.In order to adapt to the various markets initially involves utilizing various separation and analytical techniques to develop methods to characterize the carbon products.[4,5] NETL's patented alumina-iron catalysts has successfully demonstrated the ability to generate numerous types of carbon products such as single and double walled carbon nanotubes, carbon fibers, graphitic sheets, graphene platelets, turbo-static graphitic clusters, and para-crystalline carbon clusters such as carbon black [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16], in addition to the production of hydrogen.Numerous separation techniques (surfactants and dispersants) are being tested, and the use of various analytical techniques such as Auger Electron Microscopy (AES), Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-ray Microanalysis (SEM/XRM), Optical Microscopy (OM), Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA), X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) are being utilized to assess the effectiveness of the separation techniques on the carbon products and carbon products from the catalyst material, and to characterize the separated carbon products.[5,6] The analyses were carried out utilizing a JEOL-7600 FESEM equipped with a Transmission Electron Detector, a Thermo-Electron Pathfinder XRM, and Gatan Mono-CL4 Cathodoluminescence system; a Thermo-Scientific Apreo-2C FESEM equipped with a Thermo-Electron Pathfinder XRM; a Physical Electronics 590 AES; a Physical Electronic 5600ci XPS; a Malvern-Panalytical X'Pert Pro XRD and Axios-Max XRF, as well as a set of TA Instruments TGA(s).The data acquired and was compared to selected standards as well as data in the literature.