Production of Hydrogen and Carbon Nanofiber via Methane Decomposition

Authors: Zhi Zhang, Tao Tang, Guangda Lu, Cheng Qin, Huogen Huang, Shaotao Zheng

Abstract:

High purity hydrogen and the valuable by-product of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can be produced by the methane catalytic decomposition. The methane conversion and the performance of CNTs were determined by the choices of catalysts and the condition of decomposition reaction. In this paper, Ni/MgO and Ni/O-D (oxidized diamond) catalysts were prepared by wetness impregnation method. The effects of reaction temperature and space velocity of methane on the methane conversion were investigated in a fixed-bed. The surface area, structure and micrography were characterized with BET, XPS, SEM, EDS technology. The results showed that the conversion of methane was above 8% within 150 min (T=500) for 33Ni/O-D catalyst and higher than 25% within 120 min (T=650) for 41Ni/MgO catalyst. The initial conversion increased with the increasing temperature of the decomposition reaction, but their catalytic activities decreased rapidly while at too higher temperature. To decrease the space velocity of methane was propitious to promote the methane conversion, but not favor of the hydrogen yields. The appearance of carbon resulted from the methane decomposition lied on the support type and the condition of catalytic reaction. It presented as fiber shape on the surface of Ni/O-D at the relatively lower temperature such as 500 and 550, but as grain shape stacked on and overlayed on the surface of the metal nickel while at 650. The carbon fiber can form on the Ni/MgO surface at 650 and the diameter of the carbon fiber increased with the decreasing space velocity.

Keywords: methane, catalytic decomposition, hydrogen, carbon nanofiber

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1076372

References:

[1] Higashi N-o, Ikenaga N-o, Miyake T, Suzuki T. Diamond & Related Mate(J). 2005, 14(3-7):820.
[2] Reshetenko T V, Avdeeva L B, Ismagilov Z R, Chuvilin A L, Fenelonov V B. Catal Today(J). 2005, 102-103: 115.
[3] Reshetenko T V, Avdeeva L B, Khassin A A, Kustova G N, Ushakov V A , Moroz E. M , Shmakov A N , Kriventsov V V , Kochubey D I , Pavlyukhin Y T , Chuvili A L , Ismagilov Z R. Appl Catal A: General(J). 2004, 268(1-2): 127.
[4] Couttenye R A, De Vila M H, Suib S L. J Catal (J). 2005, 233(2): 317.
[5] Kim M H, Lee E K, Jun J H, Kong S J, Han G Y, Lee B K, Lee T J, Yoon K J. Inter J Hydrogen Energy(J). 2004, 29(2): 187.
[6] Takenaka S, Shigeta Y, Tanabe E, Otsuka K. J Catal (J). 2003, 220(2): 468.
[7] Wang Min-Wei, Li Feng-Y, Peng Nian-Cai. New Carbon Mate (J). 2005, 20(1): 28.
[8] Cui Yi-Chen, Yang Wen, Cai Ning-Sheng, Yao Qiang. J Combustion Sci and Tech (J). 2005, 11(5): 480.
[9] Takenaka S, Ogihara H, Yamanaka I, Otsuka K. Appl Catal A: General(J). 2001, 217(1-2): 101.