Acoustic method of monitoring the conversion of methane into carbon

The hydrogen production from methane for the hydrogen power industry with plasmachemical methods is discussed. The energy of a pulsed source of excitation such as microwave discharge and gaseous discharge is absorbed in a closed plasmachemical reactor. The radiation acoustic effects cause acoustic vibrations, which are determined by the inhomogeneity of excitation of the reagent gases. The temperature should also be monitored as sound wave frequency depends on the gas temperature in the reactor. The detection of sound waves does not require the access to the zone of reaction, which prevents the destruction of diagnostic equipment used in other methods of measuring the products of chemical processes. The method yields the mean value of the degree of conversion over the reactor volume avoiding the errors connected with the localization of sampling. The method is also used in automated control systems for technological processes as the time of measurement and signal processing is 0.2 sec.