Thermocatalytic Hydrogen Production Through Decomposition of Methane-A Review.

Gowhar A Naikoo,Hassina Tabassum,Waqar Ahmed,Mujahid Mustaqeem,Israr U Hassan,Musallam A Tabook,Mona Z Pedram,Mashallah Rezakazemi,Fareeha Arshad

doi:10.3389/fchem.2021.736801

Abstract

Consumption of fossil fuels, especially in transport and energy-dependent sectors, has led to large greenhouse gas production. Hydrogen is an exciting energy source that can serve our energy purposes and decrease toxic waste production. Decomposition of methane yields hydrogen devoid of COx components, thereby aiding as an eco-friendly approach towards large-scale hydrogen production. This review article is focused on hydrogen production through thermocatalytic methane decomposition (TMD) for hydrogen production. The thermodynamics of this approach has been highlighted. Various methods of hydrogen production from fossil fuels and renewable resources were discussed. Methods including steam methane reforming, partial oxidation of methane, auto thermal reforming, direct biomass gasification, thermal water splitting, methane pyrolysis, aqueous reforming, and coal gasification have been reported in this article. A detailed overview of the different types of catalysts available, the reasons behind their deactivation, and their possible regeneration methods were discussed. Finally, we presented the challenges and future perspectives for hydrogen production via TMD. This review concluded that among all catalysts, nickel, ruthenium and platinum-based catalysts show the highest activity and catalytic efficiency and gave carbon-free hydrogen products during the TMD process. However, their rapid deactivation at high temperatures still needs the attention of the scientific community.

Highlights

Hydrogen (H2) is one of the fundamental energy storage elements that are found in most chemical compounds including water and hydrocarbons
The main processes involved in hydrogen production include catalytic steam reforming of light hydrocarbons, partial oxidation of heavy hydrocarbons, coal gasification, and methane decarburization
The Ni available in the catalyst system usually remains below 20% due to its highest activity observed at that concentration (Haynes and Shekhawat, 2011; Scapinello et al, 2017)

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Hydrogen (H2) is one of the fundamental energy storage elements that are found in most chemical compounds including water and hydrocarbons. This is important to provide a larger area to function as catalytic active sites during the reaction (Bockris, 2013; Eljack and Kazi, 2021) Among these catalysts, Ni has gained widespread attention for TMD for hydrogen production, because this element can produce more yield of hydrogen per unit mass of the substrate (Bockris, 2013; Eljack and Kazi, 2021). Morphologies of spent Ni/wood char catalyst at different magnification scales methane conversion is found to be thermodynamically limited at this high temperature and large amount of hydrogen cannot be produced in concentrated amounts (Abbas and Wan Daud, 2010). The authors noted that this catalysts could produce large amounts of concentrated hydrogen that is devoid of carbon products (Wang and Baker, 2004)

METHODS

Findings

CONCLUSION AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVE