Metal/activated carbon systems as catalysts of methane decomposition reaction

• Pd, Pt and Cr metal catalysts supported on activated carbon were prepared.
• Very high activity of Pd/AC catalysts in CDM process was observed.
• The higher the amount of Pd in the catalyst, the better the results obtained.
• Significant differences between activity of Pd/AC and Pt/AC catalysts was noticed.
• The least active catalysts proved to be the Cr/AC systems.

Catalytic decomposition of methane (CDM) is an attractive approach to COx-free production of hydrogen. This reaction is often performed with the use of metal catalysts, however, their common drawback is a fast deactivation of the metal caused by accumulation of carbonaceous deposit on the catalyst surface. The catalyst stability can be improved by the proper choice of the support of the metallic active phase. In this aspect much attention has been paid to activated carbon (AC) as it can be used in CDM reaction both as a catalyst on its own and as a support of active phase. In this study, thermo-catalytic decomposition of methane with the use of different metals (Pt, Pd, Cr) supported on activated carbon was performed. The active phase support was prepared from ash wood by chemical activation with KOH and the final catalytic systems were obtained by incipient wetness impregnation of support with salts of the above metals. The systems prepared were tested in the methane decomposition reaction carried out at three different temperatures: 750, 850 or 950 °C. The most effective catalysts among the tested ones were Pd/AC systems, whereas Cr supported on AC showed even worse catalytic performance than unloaded activated carbon used as a catalyst.

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