Patent ID: 11964867
Assignee: XEROX CORPORATION
Field: Materials, metallurgy (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC C  B  D | IPC B  C

Claim 0:
1. An apparatus to decompose a hydrocarbon reactant into a gaseous product and a solid product comprising:
a reactor volume;
a reservoir of liquid metal material;
a plurality of nozzles connected to the reservoir of liquid metal material, the plurality of nozzles configured to distribute the liquid metal material into the reactor volume from the reservoir as a liquid mist to initially contact hydrocarbon gas reactant;
a gas inlet connected to a hydrocarbon gas source to receive the hydrocarbon gas reactant;
a distributor connected to the inlet to distribute the hydrocarbon gas reactant into the reactor volume;
a heat source located next to the reactor volume configured to heat the reactor volume;
a separator to separate the solid product from the liquid metal material;
a re-circulation path connected between the reactor volume and the reservoir to re-circulate the liquid metal material from the reactor volume to the reservoir;
a gas outlet connected to the reactor volume configured to outlet hydrogen gas from the reactor volume; and
at least one filter connected to the gas outlet to remove entrained solid product from the hydrogen gas.