US 9,862,602 B1Granted

Cracking of a process gas

AssigneeLyten, Inc.

InventorsThomas Riso, Philip David Fulmer, Ryan Balmores, Hossein-Ali Ghezelbash, Bryce H. Anzelmo

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Abstract

A process gas (such as a hydrocarbon gas) is flowed through a thermal cracking apparatus to crack the process gas into constituent components (such as hydrogen gas and solid carbon nano-particles, e.g., carbon nano-onions, necked carbon nano-onions, carbon nanospheres, graphene, graphite, highly ordered pyrolytic graphite, single walled nanotubes, and/or multi-walled nanotubes). The thermal cracking apparatus has an elongated heating element disposed within an inner volume along a longitudinal axis thereof. The elongated heating element heats the process gas as it flows within a longitudinal elongated reaction zone to thermally crack molecules of the process gas into the constituent components of the molecules.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A method comprising:

providing a thermal cracking apparatus having an inner volume that has a longitudinal axis and an elongated heating element disposed within the inner volume along the longitudinal axis;
heating the elongated heating element by electrical power to a molecular cracking temperature to generate a longitudinal elongated reaction zone within the inner volume;
flowing a feedstock process gas into the inner volume and longitudinally through the longitudinal elongated reaction zone, wherein the feedstock process gas is heated by heat from the elongated heating element;
thermally cracking molecules of the feedstock process gas within the longitudinal elongated reaction zone into constituent components thereof as the feedstock process gas flows through the longitudinal elongated reaction zone;
and
collecting the constituent components;
wherein:
the feedstock process gas comprises a hydrocarbon gas;
and
the constituent components comprise hydrogen and carbon nano-particles.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.