Experimental characterization of bubbles in liquid metals at high temperature

Resumen

Due to the vast amount of CO 2 emitted nowadays through most processes dedicated to the production of H 2 , the necessity of developing new technologies based on CO 2 free hydrogen generation has increased the interest in methane pyrolysis with liquid metals [1]. In this process, methane bubbles pass through a reactor filled with liquid tin, where they are converted into hydrogen and carbon. The main objective of this research is to characterize the interactions between gas and liquid tin through a process structured to overcome the different challenges found in this field such as bubble modeling and heat transfer. On account of this, the implemented study will be divided into, first, the characterization of fluid dynamics of bubbles formed in liquid metals at high temperature and, second, the characterization of heat transfer. Currently, the efforts are concentrated on the first phase, which is focused on creating an electro-resistivity probe [2] to identify the dimensions of these bubbles in liquid tin. To calibrate the probe, a prototype with water and air bubbles has been made, and optical measurements are being collected and post-processed via specialized software. The outcomes of this research will be applied in the future development of methane pyrolysis reactors to improve the performance of hydrogen generation.