PRODUCTION OF HYDROBROMIC ACID FROM BROMINE AND METHANE FOR HYDROGEN PRODUCTION

A cooperative program between Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and the SRT Group was recently begun to advance the development of a chemical process to produce hydrobromic acid from bromine and methane. The purpose of the SNL program is to provide fundamental reaction kinetics information that will constitute the basis for system engineering by SRT. The SNL activities consist of computational chemistry and laboratory experimentation. Preliminary calculations of chemical equilibrium behavior and reaction kinetics were performed using the CHEMKIN computer program and its associated thermodynamic and kinetic databases. Calculations were performed for reactions involving the bromine-methane and bromine-methanesteam systems. The equilibrium conversion of bromine to HBr in the two processes is excellent, especially at temperatures below 900K. If equilibrium is achieved in the bromine-methane process, then the other principal product is solid carbon in some form, e.g., coke or soot. If solid carbon is not produced, then the reactor effluent may contain significant amounts of brominated hydrocarbons. From a purely thermodynamic point of view, the bromine-methane-steam process appears to be more attractive because the carbon in methane is converted almost completely into carbon dioxide.