Thermal decomposition of magnesium carbonate in methane atmosphere for the synthesis of syngas: The effect of O2

Excess CO2 emissions from the conventional decomposition of carbonate process industry, have a lasting and detrimental effect on the global climate. It is a significant task to figure out how to minimize these processes' CO2 emissions from sustainable development of society. In this work, the thermal decomposition of MgCO3 in CH4 reduction environment for the formation of syngas was investigated in great depth. The addition of O2 to the thermal decomposition of MgCO3 in CH4 atmosphere reaction system reduced the reaction temperature by 300 °C and prevented the coke formation on the metal oxide (near zero carbon high quality MgO), as demonstrated by both theoretical calculations and experiments. And the formation of valuable syngas byproducts (CO/H2 =1:3) and the noteworthy reduction of CO2 emissions (with a suppressed selectivity of 15%) can be obtained through this process. This research gives a helpful and long-term strategy for cutting down on CO2 emissions in the conventional process industries (ie. carbonate decomposition) and provides a new view for valuable product (ie. syngas) synthesis. [Display omitted] •MgCO3 thermal decomposition in CH4 atmosphere effectively inhibited CO2 emission.•The introduction of O2 results in a reduction of 300 °C in the reaction temperature.•The sintering of MgO surface was effectively inhibited at low reaction temperature.•The process yielded valuable syngas while inhibited CO2 selectivity with 15%.