Influences of reaction conditions on methane decomposition over non-supported Ni catalyst

Effects of reaction temperature and methane gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) on methane decomposition over non-supported Ni catalyst have been investigated in this work. Methane molecules activation, Ni particles growth and nano-carbon diffusion were the main factors influencing methane decomposition stability of non-supported Ni. The results of methane decomposition activity test on the non-supported Ni catalyst showed that the prepared non-supported Ni could exhibit a good methane decomposition performance with 273 gC/gNi and 2667 molH2/molNi at 500 °C and 45000 mL/(gcat h). Scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and temperature-programmed oxidation (TPO) have been carried out to characterize the used catalysts. The deposited carbon was carbon nanofibers, among which graphitic carbon formation increased with the reaction time of methane decomposition. Ni particle size was not the decisive factor during the carbon growing stage.