Premium
Methane‐induced Activation Mechanism of Fused Ferric Oxide–Alumina Catalysts during Methane Decomposition
Author(s) -
Reddy Enakonda Linga,
Zhou Lu,
Saih Youssef,
OuldChikh Samy,
Lopatin Sergei,
Gary Daniel,
DelGallo Pascal,
Basset JeanMarie
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
chemsuschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.412
H-Index - 157
eISSN - 1864-564X
pISSN - 1864-5631
DOI - 10.1002/cssc.201600500
Subject(s) - methane , catalysis , decomposition , chemistry , ferric , oxide , reaction mechanism , inorganic chemistry , carbon fibers , chemical engineering , materials science , organic chemistry , composite number , engineering , composite material
Activation of Fe 2 O 3 –Al 2 O 3 with CH 4 (instead of H 2 ) is a meaningful method to achieve catalytic methane decomposition (CMD). This reaction of CMD is more economic and simple against commercial methane steam reforming (MSR) as it produces CO x ‐free H 2 . In this study, for the first time, structure changes of the catalyst were screened during CH 4 reduction with time on stream. The aim was to optimize the pretreatment conditions through understanding the activation mechanism. Based on results from various characterization techniques, reduction of Fe 2 O 3 by CH 4 proceeds in three steps: Fe 2 O 3 →Fe 3 O 4 →FeO→Fe0. Once Fe0 is formed, it decomposes CH 4 with formation of Fe 3 C, which is the crucial initiation step in the CMD process to initiate formation of multiwall carbon nanotubes.