Hydrogen production via catalytic methane decomposition over alumina supported iron catalyst

In this paper, iron-based catalysts, calcined at different temperatures (300–800 °C), supported over alumina, were investigated for hydrogen production via catalytic methane decomposition. The catalysts were prepared by using different methods such as impregnation and co-precipitation. The fresh and spent catalysts were characterized using different techniques such as Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET), temperature-programmed reduction by hydrogen (H2-TPR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetry analysis (TGA), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Results revealed that for both impregnated and co-precipitated catalysts, calcination temperature of 500 °C is optimal. Type of precursor iron oxide on the alumina support has a strong influence on its performance for methane decomposition.