Hydrogen production from banyan leaves using an atmospheric-pressure microwave plasma reactor

•Pyrolysis of banyan leaves is studied in a microwave plasma reactor.•Increase the microwave power levels results in an increase of H2 production.•H2 production rate is 20.44mgmin−1 at 1000W.•H2 production efficiency is 67.33% at 1000W. Growth of the hydrogen market has motivated increased study of hydrogen production. Understanding how biomass is converted to hydrogen gas can help in evaluating opportunities for reducing the environmental impact of petroleum-based fuels. The microwave power used in the reaction is found to be proportional to the rate of production of hydrogen gas, mass of hydrogen gas produced per gram of banyan leaves consumed, and amount of hydrogen gas formed with respect to the H-atom content of banyan leaves decomposed. Increase the microwave power levels results in an increase of H2 and decrease of CO2 concentrations in the gaseous products. This finding may possibly be ascribed to the water–gas shift reaction. These results will help to expand our knowledge concerning banyan leaves and hydrogen yield on the basis of microwave-assisted pyrolysis, which will improve the design of hydrogen production technologies.