The role of back-mixing in the decomposition of methane

Abstract

Mechanisms proposed by Roscoe and Thompson as well as by Dean were used to investigate the influence of back-mixing on the decomposition of methane. Increasing degrees of back-mixing were simulated by decreasing numbers of vessels in series. It is shown that back-mixing has a significant effect on the decomposition of methane; the rate may be increased by more than one order of magnitude. The results are important for the simulation of chemical vapor deposition of carbon from methane. This process is usually performed in flow reactors at reduced pressure and low flow rates, which implies that back-mixing or axial dispersion have to be considered.