Hydrogen production by decomposition of ethane-containing methane over carbon black catalysts

Mixtures of methane and small amounts of ethane were decomposed in the presence of carbon black (CB) catalysts at 1,073–1,223 K for hydrogen production. Although most of the added ethane was first decomposed to ethylene and hydrogen predominantly by non-catalytic reaction, subsequent decomposition of ethylene was effectively facilitated by the CB catalysts. Because some methane was produced from ethane, the net methane conversion decreased as the added ethane increased. The rate of hydrogen production from methane was decreased by the added ethane. A reason for this is that adsorption of methane on the active sites is inhibited by more easily adsorbing ethylene. In spite of this, the hydrogen yield increased with an increase of the added ethane because the contribution of ethane and ethylene decomposition to the hydrogen production was dominant over methane decomposition. A higher hydrogen yield was obtained in the presence of a higher-surface-area CB catalyst.