Production of hydrogen from methane over alumina supported Ni-Co catalysts

Nickel and Cobalt based bimetallic catalysts over alumina support were prepared by the co-precipitation method for the investigation of hydrogen production via catalytic decomposition of methane. Effect of different important parameters such as reaction temperature, gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) and metal loading were studied. The catalytic activity and stability results revealed that the catalyst having 25wt% each of Ni and Co (25NCA) exhibited the best performance among all the catalysts tested. The textural and morphological nature of the calcined and spent catalysts were examined using different characterization techniques including BET surface area, temperatureprogrammed reduction (TPR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM).