Horia Metiu

University of California, USA

Title: Hydrogen manufacture without CO₂

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Biography

Dr. Metiu obtained his Ph.D. at MIT in 1974. After postdoctoral research at MIT and the University of Chicago, he joined the UCSB faculty in 1976. His awards include an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship (1978), a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (1979), the Exxon Solid State Chemistry ACS award (1979), the UCSB Faculty Research Lectureship (1987), a Humboldt Senior Scientist Award (2003), and the American Chemical Society Division of Physical Chemistry Award in Theoretical Chemistry (2015). He was an Associate Editor of the Journal of Chemical Physics from 1999 through 2012.

Abstract

Most hydrogen is currently produced by steam reforming of methane or other hydrocarbon feedstock.  The manufacture of roughly 50 million tons of H₂ produces 300 million tons of CO₂ as a side product.  Catalytic methane pyrolysis, CH₄ = C + 2H₂ is a possible alternative.  Performing this reaction without a catalyst requires unreasonably high temperature.  The use of traditional catalysts is not possible because of coking.  To avoid coking we began a systematic search for molten catalysts.  The reaction is performed in a bubble column in which methane is injected in the molten catalyst.  The reaction takes place in the bubbles and the carbon form is carried with the bubble and it floats on top of the melt from which it can be removed.  In this implementation the catalyst in the liquid carbon remains clean and there is no coking.  We have studied both molten metal alloy catalysts and molten salts.  I will present results for the best-performing catalysts we have found.  We have also studied dry methane reforming catalyzed by molten metals.  Pyrolysis and dry reforming occur concurrently and this allows the production of syngas of any desired ratio of hydrogen to CO.  As in the case of pyrolysis there is no coking.