Source: Home We are developing a transformational process to derive advanced carbon materials, including graphene and carbon fiber, from low-cost, abundant resources: natural gas and coal. Our proprietary low-temperature plasma conversion process can transform these materials in a fraction of a second. This process has no CO2 emissions and can be deployed at orders of magnitude lower costs than conventional chemical plants employing legacy technologies. . . . Source_2: ‘We will make zero-CO2 hydrogen from natural gas so cheaply we could give it away for free’ | Recharge US start-up H Quest says its emissions-free microwave plasma pyrolysis technology will turn methane into H2 and high-value solid carbon or petrochemicals — with these “co-products” alone making projects profitable, writes Leigh Collins . . . The thermodynamic costs of steam reformulation of methane-to-hydrogen and CO{2} is expensive. But this new approach claims to have a found a microwave solution. In theory, this should be more efficient as the methane plasma is selectively stimulated to break the carbon-hydrogen bonds. This may unlock affordable hydrogen and value-added hydrocarbon production instead of CO{2}. I've read reports of tunable masers and synchrotrons capable of a wide range of frequencies at respectable power. I've long thought this might be a key to chemical processes that might more efficiently breakup complex chemicals or promote desirable reactions at the fraction of the energy cost. In effect, a tunable catalyst. It sounds like H Quest may have broken the code (about TIME!) But the cost of methane-to-hydrogen is only part of the cost equation and we don't know the thermodynamics of their processes. But it is promising. ps. There are other hydrogen costs beyond hydrogen manufacturing.
