US 11,629,056 B2 · Reactor for carbon nanotube and nanofiber production

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for production of carbon nanotubes and H2 using a reaction system configuration that is suitable for large scale production. In the reaction system, a substantial portion of the heat for the reaction can be provided by using a heated gas stream. Optionally, the heated gas stream can correspond to a heated H2 gas stream. By using a heated gas stream, when the catalyst precursors for the floating catalyst-chemical vapor deposition (FC-CVD) type catalyst are added to the gas stream, the gas stream can be at a temperature of 1000° C. or more. This can reduce or minimize loss of catalyst precursor material and/or deposition of coke on sidewalls of the reactor. Additionally, a downstream portion of the reactor can include a plurality of flow channels of reduced size that are passed through a heat exchanger environment, such as a shell and tube heat exchanger. This can provide cooling of the gas flow after catalyst formation to allow for carbon nanotube formation, while also reducing the Reynolds number of the flow sufficiently to provide laminar flow within the region where carbon nanotubes are formed.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A reaction system for forming carbon nanotubes, comprising:

a reactor comprising at least one heated gas flow inlet, a pyrolysis zone, a heat exchanger, and at least one product outlet;
a heater in fluid communication with the at least one heated gas flow inlet via a heated gas flow conduit;
at least one reactant flow inlet a) in direct fluid communication with the pyrolysis zone, b) in indirect fluid communication with the pyrolysis zone via the heated gas flow conduit, or c) a combination thereof;
and
an array of gas flow tubes within the heat exchanger, the array of gas flow tubes being in fluid communication with the pyrolysis zone and in fluid communication with the at least one product outlet,
wherein a ratio of an average cross-sectional area of the pyrolysis zone that is available for gas flow to an average cross-sectional area of the array of gas flow tubes is 1.1 or more, or wherein a ratio of an average cross-sectional of the pyrolysis zone that is available for gas flow to an average cross-sectional area of a tube in the array of gas flow tubes is 10 or more, or a combination thereof.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Reactor for carbon nanotube and nanofiber production

Life of this patent

Reactor for carbon nanotube and nanofiber production

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20