▎ 摘　　要

NOVELTY - Low-temperature cracking e.g. non-thermal cracking of hydrocarbon-containing starting material (1) involves (i) providing a hydrocarbon-containing starting material in a gas phase, (ii) generating a non-thermal plasma from the starting material to split the starting material into a carbon portion and a hydrogen portion, and (iii) separating the carbon portion and the hydrogen portion. In the cracking process, at least one process parameter is monitored during performance, preferably using sensor measurements. USE - Low-temperature cracking e.g. non-thermal cracking of hydrocarbon-containing starting material e.g. flare gas, waste plastic, bilge oil, crude oil, biogas or natural gas, in production of carbon-enriched intermediate product e.g. graphite or graphene, and hydrogen-enriched intermediate product used in reduction of solid, in particular silicon-oxygen compound, e.g. silica, or iron-oxygen compound, e.g. iron(III) oxide or iron(II,III) oxide, and energy generation (all claimed). ADVANTAGE - The method enables economical and efficient low-temperature cracking of hydrocarbon-containing starting material without using additional plasma-generating substance and working gas. DETAILED DESCRIPTION - An INDEPENDENT CLAIM is included for a device, which comprises a microwave plasma device (4) with a reactor chamber and a microwave source, a separating device connected to t e reactor chamber via a discharge line, and sensor for measuring or monitoring process parameter. The microwave plasma device is set up to generate non-thermal plasma for the non-thermal splitting or low-temperature splitting of the starting material into carbon portion and hydrogen portion from at least a portion of the starting material located in the reactor chamber. The separating device is set up to separate the carbon content from the hydrogen content. DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The drawing shows a schematic view of the device. (Drawing includes non-English language text) 1Hydrocarbon-containing starting material 4Microwave plasma device 5Electrostatic separators 6,7Reduction units 13Heat