Systems and methods for hydrocarbon pyrolysis

A system for hydrocarbon pyrolysis, the system comprising:

• a reactor configured to contain a liquid metal within an interior chamber of the reactor;
• a heater operably coupled to the reactor to form a heating zone within a first portion of the interior chamber comprising the liquid metal;
• a cooler operably coupled to the reactor to form a cooling zone within a second portion of the interior chamber above the first portion;
• a gas delivery assembly comprising an inlet in fluid communication with the interior chamber, the gas delivery assembly configured to deliver a feed gas comprising a hydrocarbon as a plurality of bubbles through the liquid metal;
• an outlet in fluid communication with the interior chamber and configured to deliver a product gas to a separation assembly, the product gas formed from pyrolysis of the hydrocarbon in the liquid metal, the product gas comprising H2 and carbon;
• and
• the separation assembly in fluid communication with the interior chamber via the outlet, the separation assembly configured to separate the carbon from other components of the product gas,
• wherein the system does not comprise any other outlet through which carbon exits the interior chamber other than the outlet configured to deliver the product gas to the separation assembly;
• wherein
• the system comprises an upstream pressure gauge configured to measure a pressure of the feed gas during pyrolysis and a downstream pressure gauge configured to measure a pressure of the product gas during pyrolysis and the system further comprises a controller comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable medium operably coupled to the processor, the non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions, that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to adjust one or more of a feed gas flow rate, a reactor temperature, and a reactor pressure to achieve no change in the pressure of the feed gas during pyrolysis and no change in the pressure of the product gas during pyrolysis.