Hydrocarbon byproduct monitoring of fibrous substrates

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11747311-B2
Application number	US-202117208933-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 22, 2021
Priority date	Mar 22, 2021
Publication date	Sep 5, 2023
Grant date	Sep 5, 2023

Abstract

The disclosure describes a system for generating hydrogen gas from a hydrocarbon through pyrolysis with reduced soot formation and increased carbon loading. The system includes one or more pyrolysis reactors configured to generate the hydrogen gas from the hydrocarbon through pyrolysis. Each pyrolysis reactor of the one or more pyrolysis reactors includes one or more fibrous substrates and a concentration sensor downstream of at least one fibrous substrate of the one or more fibrous substrates. Each fibrous substrate of the one or more fibrous substrates defines a deposition surface for carbon generated from the pyrolysis of the hydrocarbon and includes a plurality of fibers configured to maintain chemical and structural stability between 850° C. and 1300° C. The concentration sensor is configured to measure a concentration of at least one of a hydrocarbon byproduct or a hydrocarbon soot precursor, such as acetylene.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for generating hydrogen gas, comprising:
one or more pyrolysis reactors configured to generate the hydrogen gas from a hydrocarbon through pyrolysis, wherein each pyrolysis reactor of the one or more pyrolysis reactors comprises:
one or more fibrous substrates defining a deposition surface for carbon generated from the pyrolysis of the hydrocarbon, wherein each fibrous substrate of the one or more fibrous substrates comprises a plurality of fibers configured to maintain chemical and structural stability between 850° C. and 1300° C.; and
a concentration sensor downstream of at least one fibrous substrate of the one or more fibrous substrates, wherein the concentration sensor is configured to measure a concentration of at least one of a hydrocarbon byproduct or a hydrocarbon soot precursor.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the hydrocarbon byproduct or the hydrocarbon soot precursor measured by the concentration sensor comprises at least one of acetylene or benzene.

3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a controller configured to:
receive, from the concentration sensor, a measurement of the concentration of the at least one of the hydrocarbon byproduct or the hydrocarbon soot precursor; and
output, in response to determining that the concentration of the at least one of the hydrocarbon byproduct or the hydrocarbon soot precursor violates a threshold, at least one of:
an operational status of the fibrous substrates of the respective pyrolysis reactor of the one or more pyrolysis reactors;
a maintenance action associated with a service life of the fibrous substrates of the respective pyrolysis reactor of the one or more pyrolysis reactors; or
a control action associated with one or more operating conditions of the respective pyrolysis reactor of the one or more pyrolysis reactors.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the threshold represents an end-of-life of the one or more fibrous substrates, and further comprising a controller configured to output, in response to determining that the concentration of the at least one of the hydrocarbon byproduct or the hydrocarbon soot precursor violates the threshold, a maintenance indication.

5. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a controller configured to initiate, in response to determining that the concentration of the at least one of the hydrocarbon byproduct or the hydrocarbon soot precursor violates the threshold, a shutdown of the respective pyrolysis reactor of the one or more pyrolysis reactors.

6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a controller configured to change a temperature profile along an axis of the respective pyrolysis reactor of the one or more pyrolysis reactors based on the concentration of the at least one of the hydrocarbon byproduct or the hydrocarbon soot precursor.

7. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a controller configured to change a flow rate of the hydrocarbon into the respective pyrolysis reactor of the one or more pyrolysis reactors based on the concentration of the at least one of the hydrocarbon byproduct or the hydrocarbon soot precursor.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more pyrolysis reactors comprise a first pyrolysis reactor that includes a first concentration sensor and a second pyrolysis reactor that includes a second concentration sensor, wherein the first and second pyrolysis reactors are coupled in parallel.

9. The system of claim 8 , further comprising a controller configured to:
receive, from the first concentration sensor, a measurement of the concentration of the at least one of the hydrocarbon byproduct or the hydrocarbon soot precursor from the first pyrolysis reactor; and
initiate, in response to determining that the concentration of the one or more hydrocarbon byproducts or soot precursors violates a threshold, a shutdown of the first pyrolysis reactor.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein each fibrous substrate of the one or more fibrous substrates has an effective void fraction between 40% and 95%.

11. A method for generating hydrogen gas, comprising:
pyrolyzing, by one or more pyrolysis reactors, a hydrocarbon to generate the hydrogen gas and carbon, wherein each pyrolysis reactor of the one or more pyrolysis reactors comprises one or more fibrous substrates defining a deposition surface for the carbon generated from the pyrolysis of the hydrocarbon, and wherein each fibrous substrate of the one or more fibrous substrates comprises a plurality of fibers configured to maintain chemical and structural stability between about 850° C. and about 1300° C.
measuring, by a concentration sensor downstream of at least one fibrous substrate of the one or more fibrous substrates, a concentration of at least one of a hydrocarbon byproduct or a hydrocarbon soot precursor.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least one of the hydrocarbon byproduct or the hydrocarbon soot precursor measured by the concentration sensor comprises at least one of acetylene or benzene.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
receiving, by a controller and from the concentration sensor, a measurement of the concentration of the at least one of the hydrocarbon byproduct or the hydrocarbon soot precursor; and
outputting, by the controller and in response to determining that the concentration of the at least one of the hydrocarbon byproduct or the hydrocarbon soot precursor violates a threshold, at least one of:
an operational status of the fibrous substrates of the respective pyrolysis reactor;
a maintenance action associated with a service life of the fibrous substrates of the respective pyrolysis reactor; or
a control action associated with one or more operating conditions of the respective pyrolysis reactor.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the threshold represents an end-of-life of the one or more fibrous substrates, and wherein the method further comprises outputting, by a controller and in response to determining that the concentration of the at least one of the hydrocarbon byproduct or the hydrocarbon soot precursor violates the threshold, a maintenance indication.

15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising initiating, by a controller and in response to determining that the concentration of the at least one of the hydrocarbon byproduct or the hydrocarbon soot precursor violates the threshold, a shutdown of the pyrolysis reactor.

16. The method of claim 11 , further comprising changing, by a controller, a temperature profile along an axis of the pyrolysis reactor based on the concentration of the at least one of the hydrocarbon byproduct or the hydrocarbon soot precursor.

17. The method of claim 11 , further comprising changing, by a controller, a flow rate of the hydrocarbon into the pyrolysis reactor based on the concentration of the at least one of the hydrocarbon byproduct or the hydrocarbon soot precursor.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein the one or more pyrolysis reactors comprise a first pyrolysis reactor that includes a first concentration sensor and a second pyrolysis reactor that includes a second concentration sensor, wherein the first and second pyrolysis reactors are coupled in parallel.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:
receiving, by a controller and from the first concentration sensor, a measurement of the concentration of the at least one of the hydrocarbon byproduct or the hydrocarbon soot precursor from the first pyrolysis reactor;
initiating, by the controller and in response to determining that the concentr

Assignees

• Honeywell Int Inc

Inventors

• Michalakos Peter M
• Childers Amanda
• Yates Stephen
• Skomurski Sean

Classifications

• G01N30/02 Primary

  Column chromatography · CPC title

• C01B3/045

  in gaseous phase · CPC title

• C01B3/34

  by reaction of hydrocarbons with gasifying agents · CPC title

• C01B3/50

  Separation of hydrogen or hydrogen-containing gases from gaseous mixtures, e.g. purification · CPC title

• C07C1/12 Primary

  from carbon dioxide with hydrogen · CPC title