System and method for processing natural gas to remove carbon and produce hydrogen

A system for processing natural gas from a natural gas source to produce hydrogen gas, H2, comprising:

• a quick connect connector configured to connect to the natural gas source to receive a natural gas flow therefrom;
• a first gas measurement device for defining a first and finite volume of received natural gas flow in the received natural gas (received natural gas unit);
• a detector for sampling the received natural gas unit to determine the molecular structure and molecular weight by percentage of the constituents that are present in the received natural gas unit, the received natural gas unit containing a plurality of hydrocarbons and a plurality of non-hydrocarbons, the plurality of non-hydrocarbons being trash gases, the detector determining the total amount of Carbon by percentage in the received natural gas unit as a received Carbon unit;
• a gas separator configured to separate each of the plurality of hydrocarbons in the received natural gas unit into separate hydrogen gas feeds, one for each of the plurality of hydrocarbons in the received natural gas flow, and a separate trash gas feed associated with the trash gases in the received natural gas flow, with the received natural gas unit divided into separate hydrogen gas feed units, each associated with one of the plurality of hydrocarbons in the received natural gas unit and a trash gas unit associated with the trash gas in the received natural gas unit, wherein each of the separate hydrogen gas feed units provides clean hydrocarbon based gases associated with the received natural gas feed unit;
• a front end module configured to determine the molecular weight and molecular structure by percentage of each of the hydrocarbon based gases in each of the associated hydrogen gas feed units and an amount of Carbon by percentage contained within each of the hydrocarbon based gases associated with each of the hydrogen gas feed, the front end module configured to determine the molecular weight and structure of the trash gas in the trash gas feed unit and an amount of Carbon by percentage therein;
• a manifold to receive each of the separate hydrocarbon gas feeds and controlled by a central controller to select one of the received hydrocarbon gas feeds and the associated separated hydrocarbon gas feed units for output on a first output as a desired hydrocarbon as a hydrogen gas feed unit for extraction of hydrogen therefrom and for selecting the remaining hydrocarbon gas feeds for combining and output of the associated separated hydrocarbons on a second output for output to the to the natural gas source;
• a hydrogen gas processing module configured to receive the desired hydrocarbon gas feed unit from the first output of the manifold and separate Carbon and hydrogen from the received desired hydrocarbon gas feed unit by breaking a C—H bond to provide a hydrogen gas unit, H2, that comprises hydrogen extracted from the received natural gas unit and a Carbon product unit that comprises Carbon extracted from the received natural gas unit;
• a molecular sorter configured to direct the separated Carbon product unit and hydrogen gas unit, H2, from the hydrogen gas processing module for storage in a hydrogen storage unit;
• a back-end module associated with the molecular sorter configured to determine an amount of Carbon contained in the Carbon product, the back-end module additionally determines the molecular structure and molecular weight of each of the separated hydrocarbon units output on the second output of the manifold;
• the central controller receiving the output from the front end and back-end modules, the detector and the molecular sorter to control the operation of the manifold;
• a first output from the hydrogen gas processing module for providing the Carbon product unit;
• and
• a second output from the hydrogen gas processing module for providing the hydrogen gas unit, H2.