Apparatus for thermally cracking a hydrocarbon gas
AssigneeLyten, Inc.
InventorsDaniel Cook, Hossein-Ali Ghezelbash, Bryce H. Anzelmo, David Tanner, Shreeyukta Singh
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A nanoparticle or agglomerate which contains connected multi-walled spherical fullerenes coated in layers of graphite. In different embodiments, the nanoparticles and agglomerates have different combinations of: a high mass fraction compared to other carbon allotropes present, a low concentration of defects, a low concentration of elemental impurities, a high Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) specific surface area, and/or a high electrical conductivity. Methods are provided to produce the nanoparticles and agglomerates at a high production rate without using catalysts.
Claims19
An apparatus to thermally crack a hydrocarbon as to produce carbon nanoparticles and carbon aggregates, comprising:
- a reaction tube configured to receive the hydrocarbon gas;
- a heating element disposed along a longitudinal axis of reaction tube and within the reaction tube wherein the heating element is held in position by one or more of a spring bias assembly or a pneumatic tensioning assembly;
- and
- a pair of cap assemblies configured to engage the ends of the reaction tube wherein the cap assemblies provide one or more of:
- an outlet fluidly coupled to the reaction tube to remove the carbon nanoparticles and carbon aggregates generated during thermal cracking;
- or
- at least one opening to enable one or more of the spring bias assembly, the pneumatic tensioning assembly, or a pair of heating element electrodes to connect to the heating element.
An apparatus to thermally crack a hydrocarbon feedstock gas, comprising:
- a first reactor tube including a reaction zone;
- a second reactor tube disposed concentrically with and outside the first reactor tube;
- a feedstock gas preheating region disposed between the first and second reactor tubes, wherein the preheating region is in fluid communication with the reaction zone;
- a heating element disposed within the reaction zone and along a longitudinal axis of the reaction zone and held in position using one or more of a spring bias assembly or a pneumatic tensioning assembly;
- and
- one or more shells disposed concentrically with each other and outside the second reactor tube, wherein the one or more shells define one or more cooling fluid regions between the one or more shells and the second reactor tube, and wherein the feedstock gas is thermally cracked in the reaction zone to produce carbon nanoparticles and carbon aggregates.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.