(242g) Thermocatalytic Decomposition of Methane Over Coprecipitated Ni Catalysts for Production of Hydrogen and Carbon Tube

Hydrogen is being considered as one of the most promising energy vectors for the near future, and the thermal catalytic decomposition (TCD) of methane, as the main component of natural gas, might be an alternative process to conventional steam reforming for hydrogen production. Hydrogen production via steam reforming of methane is a highly endothermic process (63.3 kJ/mol H2) and large amounts of CO and CO2 are formed. Thermocatalytic decomposition of methane is a moderately endothermic process (37.8 kJ/mol H2) and hydrogen is the only gas product, so no further separation and purification steps are needed..

The thermal decomposition of methane: CH4(g)=> C(s) + 2H2(g) is a very simple reaction, Along with hydrogen production, the deposited carbon might be a high added-value product that could be used as a mechanical reinforcement component in carbon composites, catalyst or catalytic support, electrode material, hydrogen storage, etc. CNTs are expected to be used for many applications because of their unique properties that may impact many fields of science and technologies. Among many methods to synthesize CNTs, the catalytic decomposition of methane may be the most efficient for large scale and low-cost synthesis. Methane decomposition in presence of different metallic catalyst such as Ni, Cu, Fe, Co based zeolite, silica, alumina supported catalysts, has been done by researcher to improve the hydrogen production technology.

In the present study catalytic decomposition of methane has been investigated in a fixed bed tubular reactor at different operating conditions using Nickel based catalyst over the temperature range 600-7500C . Catalyst used in this study was prepared by wet impregnation and Co-precipitation method. For this catalyst the initial amounts of the nitrate salts of Ni and Al were taken for the preparation of 40- 60% Ni. These catalysts have been characterized by surface area and pore volume analysis, X-ray diffraction patterns, scanning electron microscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy and thermo gravimetric analysis. Effect of parameters such as metal loading, run time, operating conditions, etc. towards development of eco-friendly and economic process for production of Hydrogen has also been discussed.