Coproduction of Hydrogen and Carbon Filaments from Methane Decomposition over Fe/La2O3 Catalysts

Clean hydrogen production from catalytic methane decomposition has attracted the attention of many researchers as an alternative fuel source. In the present work, the catalytic decomposition of methane into hydrogen and carbon filaments on La2O3 doped Fe catalyst was investigated using 25% iron loading. The effect of reaction temperatures (500-750°C) over 25% Fe/La2O3 catalyst was studied. The catalysts before and after reaction were characterized by BET, XRD,H2-TPR, TGA, TPO, SEM and TEM. Stability studies of 25% Fe/ La2O3 at 750 °C for 360 min for one cycle and 5 regeneration cycles were carried out. The 25% Fe/ La2O3 catalyst showed high stability for the six cycles with no reduction in activity. Hence, iron supported over La2O3 catalyst is an efficient catalyst for hydrogen production from catalytic methane decomposition. SEM and TEM images exhibited formation of carbon filaments with various diameters and lengths.