Solar driven methane cracking to produce hydrogen and carbon: A review

Abstract

With the development of energy technology, hydrogen is gradually becoming widely used. China is also rapidly developing its own hydrogen energy industry in an effort to accomplish the “dual carbon target'. Hydrogen from methane is one of the mainstream sources, of which hydrogen from methane cracking is the decomposition of methane into hydrogen and solid carbon, with the solid carbon also having a high economic value. In particular, this technology does not emit carbon dioxide, which is very friendly to the environment, but it cannot avoid larger energy consumption. In contrast, hydrogen production from methane cracking driven by solar energy not only combines the characteristics of no CO2 emission, but also greatly reduces the consumption of primary energy, which is the future development trend of hydrogen production from methane. This paper provides a brief overview of the various technological pathways for methane to hydrogen production in the context of China's actual development, focusing on the current status of the development and application of solar methane cracking to hydrogen production technologies at home and abroad. Among them, this paper mainly discusses the characteristics of solar reactors of different sizes and structures, and summarizes the results of related optimization studies. Meanwhile, the application of catalysts in solar reactors and the problem of carbon deposition are analyzed, and the practical application of solar methane cracking hydrogen production system is outlined. Finally, the future development of solar methane cracking hydrogen production technology is prospected from the national situation of China.