The effect of hydrogen pressure and aromatic structure on methane yields from the hydropyrolysis of aromatics

Peter F. Nelson*, Klaus J. Hüttinger

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

26 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The chemistry of the formation of methane from the hydrogasification of naphthalene, substituted naphthalenes and toluene has been investigated using a flow tube. Temperatures were varied between 650-1050 °C (depending on the aromatic) and pressures ranged over 0.5-2 MPa. The results show that methane yields increase with increasing hydrogen pressure. For naphthalene the methane yield increases linearly with temperature for a given pressure. Methyl substituents are lost from aromatic rings, in a reaction which is insensitive to hydrogen pressure, to form 1 mole of methane and the parent aromatic. At these hydrogen pressures the phenolic group in 1-naphthol is removed predominately as H2O to form naphthalene and the methane yields from this species parallel those from naphthalene. Analyses of the condensed products demonstrate that increased hydrogen pressure results in a reduction in the amounts of high molecular weight condensation products resulting in increased yields of methane.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)354-361
Number of pages8
JournalFuel
Volume65
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 1986
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • aromatics
  • hydropyrolysis
  • methane yields

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