Hydrogen production from methane cracking in dielectric barrier discharge catalytic plasma reactor using a nanocatalyst

• Main Authors: Khoja, Asif Hussain, Azad, Abul Kalam, Saleem, Faisal, Khan, Bilal Alam, Naqvi, Salman Raza, Mehran, Muhammad Taqi, Saidina Amin, Nor Aishah
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/90821/1/NorAishahSaidinaAmin2020_HydrogenProductionfromMethaneCrackinginDielectricBarrier.pdf; http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/90821/; http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/en13225921
• Institution: Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

The study experimentally investigated a novel approach for producing hydrogen from methane cracking in dielectric barrier discharge catalytic plasma reactor using a nanocatalyst. Plasma-catalytic methane (CH4) cracking was undertaken in a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) catalytic plasma reactor using Ni/MgAl2O4. The Ni/MgAl2O4 was synthesised through co-precipitation followed customised hydrothermal method. The physicochemical properties of the catalyst were examined using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy—energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM-EDX) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The Ni/MgAl2O4 shows a porous structure spinel MgAl2O4 and thermal stability. In the catalytic-plasma methane cracking, the Ni/MgAl2O4 shows 80% of the maximum conversion of CH4 with H2 selectivity 75%. Furthermore, the stability of the catalyst was encouraging 16 h with CH4 conversion above 75%, and the selectivity of H2 was above 70%. This is attributed to the synergistic effect of the catalyst and plasma. The plasma-catalytic CH4 cracking is a promising technology for the simultaneous H2 and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) production for energy storage applications.