COx-Free Hydrogen and Carbon Nanofibers Produced from Direct Decomposition of Methane on Nickel-Based Catalysts

Direct decomposition of methane was carried out using a fixed-bed reactor at 700 °C for the production of COx-free hydrogen and carbon nanofibers. The catalytic performance of NiO-M/SiO2 catalysts (where M=AgO, CoO, CuO, FeO, MnOx and MoO) in methane decomposition was investigated. The experimental results indicate that among the tested catalysts, NiO/SiO2 promoted with CuO give the highest hydrogen yield. In addition, the examination of the most suitable catalyst support, including Al2O3, CeO2, La2O3, SiO2, and TiO2, shows that the decomposition of methane over NiO-CuO favors SiO2 support. Furthermore, the optimum ratio of NiO to CuO on SiO2 support for methane decomposition was determined. The experimental results show that the optimum weight ratio of NiO to CuO fell at 8:2 (w/w) since the highest yield of hydrogen was obtained over this catalyst.