Research on the Production of Turquoise Hydrogen from Methane (CH4) through Plasma Reaction

Turquoise hydrogen is produced through a process of separating carbon into solid carbon based on fossil fuels and refers to hydrogen that does not produce carbon dioxide. In this study, the characteristics of turquoise hydrogen production through a methane thermal cracking reaction using an arc plasma torch were investigated. The plasma torch operated stably under high voltage and transport gas flow conditions. The composition of the gas generated from the methane plasma reaction was analyzed using an online IR gas analyzer and GC-FID. The experimental results show that the hydrogen yield decreased to 16.4% as the methane feed rate increased but increased to 58.8% as the plasma power increased. Under these conditions, the yield of solid carbon, a valuable byproduct, was also shown to increase to 62.9%. In addition, solid carbon showed high-temperature heat-treated characteristics based on its generation location. Carbon oxides such as CO and CO2 are rarely generated under any experimental conditions. Consequently, it can be considered that plasma thermal cracking is a promising technology for CO2-free hydrogen production and a valuable solid carbon.