An apparatus for the destruction of a precursor material includes a steam plasma reactor having a high temperature zone and a combustion zone. The high temperature zone is adapted for hydrolyzing the precursor material, whereas the combustion zone is adapted to effect medium temperature oxidation of the reactant stream where combustion oxygen or air is injected. A quenching unit is provided at an exit end of the reactor for quenching a resulting gas stream to avoid the formation of unwanted by-products.

An apparatus for producing a natural gas using carbon dioxide and water in air that includes an air-compressing member, a water collecting member, a water storing member, a carbon dioxide collecting member, a water electrolysis member, and a methanation reaction member. The water electrolysis member electrolyzes water separated from compressed air. The methanation reaction member generates a natural gas by reacting hydrogen from the electrolysis and carbon dioxide from the carbon dioxide collecting member. A method of producing a natural gas using carbon dioxide and water in air includes supplying hydrogen electrolyzed from water separated from air and carbon dioxide collected from the dry air to a methanation reaction member to generate a natural gas. A natural gas-synthesizing equipment system includes an apparatus for producing a natural gas using carbon dioxide and water in air.

The problem addressed by the invention is that of providing a plasma reactor for decomposition of hydrocarbons which allows stable operation over a prolonged time period. This problem is solved by a plasma reactor for decomposing a hydrocarbon fluid, which comprises a reactor chamber surrounded by a reactor wall and further comprises at least one hydrocarbon inlet and an outlet. A plasma torch having at least two electrodes, which comprise a base part at a first end, is fixed to the reactor wall. At a second end, the electrodes comprise a burner part which projects into the reactor chamber, and a plasma zone is defined between the burner parts of adjacent electrodes. In a region between the plasma zone and the outlet, the hydrocarbon inlet opens into the reactor chamber, and the hydrocarbon inlet is oriented toward the plasma zone such that hydrocarbon fluid flowing therefrom is directed towards the plasma zone. In the plasma reactor disclosed herein, primarily small C particles are formed which prevent fouling or overgrowing of the reactor chamber. Furthermore some large and heavy C particles, which may statistically be formed, penetrate the plasma cloud and can attach specifically to the electrodes.

A high temperature heat integration method of making carbon black. A method of making carbon black is described, including reacting a carbon black forming feedstock with hydrogen gas in a plasma reactor to produce effluent gas containing carbon black and unused hydrogen, cooling the effluent gas for further processing, and recycling the unused hydrogen back into the carbon black forming process, where the unused hydrogen gas is pre-heated in a heat exchanger to a temperature up to the reaction temperature in the reactor before being recycled into the carbon black forming process. The heat exchanger for use in such process is also described.

A nanostructure includes a plurality of substantially spherically curved carbon layers having diameters in a range of 1 nanometer to 1000 nanometers and a plurality of halogen atoms attached to an outer convex side of the carbon layers. A composition of matter includes a liquid fuel and an additive including at least one liquid and a plurality of carbon nano-onions. A method of fabricating an additive for liquid fuel includes creating a carbon-based material using a plasma in an environment including at least one hydrocarbon gas and/or at least one liquid containing hydrocarbons, organometallic metal-complex, and/or element-organic compounds, evaporating organic material from the carbon-based material, halogenating the carbon-based material, and extracting carbon nano-onions from the halogenated carbon-based material.

Systems and methods for producing hydrogen and solid carbon from gaseous feedstock. The system includes a plasma reactor configured to receive and convert feedstock comprising hydrocarbons into acetylene-containing feed stream, and a refractory coupled to the plasma reactor that is configured to receive and decompose acetylene to hydrogen and solid carbon. The system is further configured to deliver one or more auxiliary feedstock comprising hydrocarbons directly to the refractory for decomposition into hydrogen and carbon. The energy required to decompose the auxiliary feedstock is provided by the energy released from decomposition of acetylene in the refractory.

A method for producing energy and synthesizing chemical elements, including rare metals, is remarkable in that it consists in creating particular conditions inside an enclosure in which a first gas or gas mixture is present by projecting a jet of a second gas or gas mixture on the internal wall of the enclosure. This projection under these conditions results in the creation of a plasma and, in the impact area and at its periphery, to transmutation reactions and, depending on the material of the impact area, to nuclear fusion reactions and synthesis of chemical elements reproducing characteristics equivalent to those of a black hole. A device allowing implementing the method of the invention is also described.

The present disclosure describes processes and apparatuses for manufacturing advanced nanosize powder materials that address at least some of the known issues of scalability, continuity, and quality inherent in prior art processes and apparatuses. Also described are nanosized powders with advantageous chemical and/or physical properties that can be used in various applications. The apparatus for producing nanoparticles, comprising a feeding mechanism for feeding a precursor material in fluid form toward a reaction zone along a feed path; a plasma device configured for generating a plasma jet in the reaction zone impinging upon the precursor material at a convergence point between streamlines of the plasma jet and the feed path to produce a reactant gaseous mixture, the plasma jet streamlines being at an angle with respect to the feed path, and a cooling zone receiving the reactant gaseous mixture to cause nucleation and produce the nanoparticles.

The present invention provides a method for producing substoichiometric titanium oxide fine particles, in which the degree of oxidation/reduction of substoichiometric titanium oxide fine particles can be adjusted and which can produce high purity nano-sized substoichiometric titanium oxide fine particles by dispersing substoichiometric titanium oxide (TiOx) fine particles, and especially titanium dioxide (TiO.sub.2), in a liquid substance containing a carbon source, adding water so as to form a slurry, forming the slurry into liquid droplets, supplying the liquid droplets to a hot plasma flame that does not contain oxygen, reacting titanium dioxide with carbon in a substance generated by the hot plasma flame so as to produce substoichiometric titanium oxide, and rapidly cooling the produced substoichiometric titanium oxide so as to produce substoichiometric titanium oxide fine particles.

An electrode assembly having a tubular support jacket that defines an internal compartment. The internal compartment is actively cooled by coolant. An electrode tip is coupled to the tubular support jacket. The electrode tip receives electricity through the tubular support jacket. An insulator construct surrounds at least part of the tubular support jacket. The insulator construct includes an insulation base, an insulation tube and an insulation cap. A gas supply conduit is interposed between the tubular support jacket and the insulation tube, wherein the gas supply conduit receives a working gas from a working gas supply. A thermally conductive casing surrounds at least part of the insulator construct. The thermally conductive casing is actively cooled. The thermally conductive casing actively cools the insulator construct, the underlying tubular support jacket, and thus the electrode tip. The active cooling reduces over-heating of the electrode tip and prevents excessive consumption and erosion.