II International Symposium on Carbon for Catalysis ABSTRACTS

PP-<strong>II</strong>-12
CATALYTIC CONVERSION OF METHANE INTO HYDROGEN ON ACTIVATED
CARBONS
Kozłowski M., Krzyżyński S.
Faculty of Chemistry, Adam Mickiewicz University, Grunwaldzka 6, 60-780 Poznań, Poland
e-mail: mkozlow@amu.edu.pl
By applying different methods of activation a number of activated carbon samples have
been obtained from brown coal. The samples have been tested as catalysts in the reaction of
methane conversion to hydrogen. The catalytic activity of the activated carbons obtained has
been found to depend on the method of activation and to increase with increasing temperature
of the process. The catalysts based on activated carbon obtained in the optimum conditions
have shown good stability in time, except for a short period at the beginning of the process.
INTRODUCTION
Hydrogen is predicted to be a fundamental fuel in the future. One of the sources of
hydrogen is methane (natural gas). The conventional method of hydrogen production via
methane steam reforming is however related to production of significant amounts of CO 2 , one
of the factors responsible for greenhouse effect. Much more promising is the production of
hydrogen via catalytic decomposition of methane [1]. The above method is considered
environmentally-friendly as the only products of the decomposition are hydrogen and carbon.
Good catalysts of the process are carbon materials. .
The main aim of the study reported was to obtain the activated carbon catalysts of high
stability and activity in the process of methane decomposition.
EXPERIMENTAL
The precursor of all activated carbon samples studied was Polish brown coal from the
Konin colliery. The raw coal of grain size of ≤0.2 mm was subjected to demineralisation by
the Radmacher method [2]. The coal sample was activated by KOH [3] and ZnCl 2 /CO 2 [4].
The catalytic tests were performed at 750, 850 and 950 o C in a quartz reactor working on line
with a gas chromatograph. All samples were characterised by N 2 adsorption at 77 K.
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