Me²H2

In the “Methane Pyrolysis” project, two different processes for the endothermic decomposition of methane, e.g., as a component of natural gas, into the elements carbon and hydrogen were developed, one of them using ohmic heating (U1 “Ohmically heated methane pyrolysis”) and one heated by a non-thermal plasma (U2 “Plasma-heated methane pyrolysis”). Methane pyrolysis has a thermodynamic advantage over water electrolysis. It requires only about 13% of the specific amount of energy used in water electrolysis to produce H2. Under certain conditions, a functional methane pyrolysis process is therefore economically superior to alternative hydrogen production technologies and would at the same time conserve nationally limited resources of renewable electricity.

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