Henry Moise
TomKat Graduate Fellow for Translational Research
Research Labs: Matteo Cargnello and Arun Majumdar
Year Awarded: 2025
Henry Moise is a Ph.D. candidate in Chemical Engineering advised by Profs. Matteo Cargnello and Arun Majumdar. His research focuses on the thermochemical conversion of natural gas to sustainable carbon materials and low-COx hydrogen. He received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Before joining Stanford, he worked as an engineer at a start-up focused on hydrogen production.
Process Intensification & Domestic Graphite Production Through Autothermal Methane Pyrolysis
Hydrogen is a vital chemical intermediate for numerous industrial sectors crucial to the global economy, including ammonia production and hydrocarbon refining. Currently, 95% of U.S. hydrogen is produced via steam reforming, a cost-effective but carbon-intensive process responsible for nearly 2% of global GHG emissions. Methane pyrolysis (MP) offers a sustainable method to continue sourcing hydrogen from fossil hydrocarbons by generating solid carbon instead of CO2. MP’s ability to utilize the U.S.’s vast shale gas reserves and 3-million mile pipeline infrastructure also allows it to scale readily if its technical challenges can be overcome. A primary obstacle is delivering high-grade heat (>1000°C), which we solve by operating reactors autothermally through integrated combustion. This approach allows a 2 order of magnitude increase in reactor throughput and yields high value carbon materials like synthetic graphite and carbon nanotubes. We plan to optimize the process for maximum intensification efficiency and reduced COx emissions, which is currently 80% less than steam reforming. The TomKat fellowship will help acquire scale up data and externalize this technology beyond Stanford.