Methane pyrolysis has the potential for low cost hydrogen production with no direct CO2 emissions. Methane pyrolysis stores the carbon content of the fuel as solid carbon. Solid Carbon can be used a in a variety of applications or sequestered as a solid. Solid carbon is easier to store, transport and sequester compared to gaseous CO2. A wide range of different approaches to methane pyrolysis will be discussed and compared with a focus on the technical challenges, environmental impacts and economics.
Dr. Murray Thomson is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering at the University of Toronto and cross-appointed with the Dept. of Chemical Engineering. He is also Vice-President and Cofounder of Aurora Hydrogen, a company that is developing hydrogen production from microwave-driven methane pyrolysis. He received a BEng from McGill University (1986) and PhD from University of California, Berkeley (1994). He was made a Fellow of the Combustion Institute in 2018, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineers in 2016, and a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada in 2012. He is on the organizing committee of the biennial International Sooting Flame Workshop. He is on the Editorial Board of the journal Proceedings of the Combustion Institute.
Dr. Murray Thomson’s research is in the area of methane pyrolysis, hydrogen production and carbon material synthesis. He also has extensive experience in combustion with a focus on soot formation, biofuels, and combustion modeling. He has supervised the thesis research of over 100 graduate students and published 132 journal publications.