Catalytic Methane Decomposition for the Simultaneous Production of Hydrogen and Low-Reactivity Biocarbon for the Metallurgic Industry

Roger A. Khalil (), Sethulakshmy Jayakumari, Halvor Dalaker, Liang Wang, Pål Tetlie and Øyvind Skreiberg
Additional contact information
Roger A. Khalil: SINTEF Energy Research, P.O. Box 4761 Torgarden, NO-7465 Trondheim, Norway
Sethulakshmy Jayakumari: SINTEF Industry, P.O. Box 4760 Torgarden, NO-7465 Trondheim, Norway
Halvor Dalaker: SINTEF Industry, P.O. Box 4760 Torgarden, NO-7465 Trondheim, Norway
Liang Wang: SINTEF Energy Research, P.O. Box 4761 Torgarden, NO-7465 Trondheim, Norway
Pål Tetlie: SINTEF Industry, P.O. Box 4760 Torgarden, NO-7465 Trondheim, Norway
Øyvind Skreiberg: SINTEF Energy Research, P.O. Box 4761 Torgarden, NO-7465 Trondheim, Norway

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 3, 1-24

Abstract: To reach agreed-on climate goals, it is necessary to develop new energy carriers and industrial materials that are carbon-neutral. To combat global warming and keep Earth’s temperature from increasing by 1.5 °C, some of these solutions need to be carbon-negative. This study fulfills this criterion by producing clean hydrogen and biocarbon suitable for the metallurgic industry through the thermal decomposition of methane using biocarbon as a catalyst. Five different biomass samples were used to prepare biocarbons at a pyrolysis temperature of 1000 °C with a holding time of 90 min. When methane was cracked at 1100 °C with a holding time of 90 min, the highest hydrogen production was 105 mol/kg biocarbon, achieved using birch bark. The lowest hydrogen yield, of 68 mol/kg biocarbon, was achieved with steam-explosion pellets. All the biocarbons showed substantial carbon deposition from cracked methane on their surfaces, with the highest deposition on birch bark and spruce wood biocarbons of 42% relative to the biocarbon start weight. The carbon deposition increased with the decomposition temperature, the methane share in the purge gas and the holding time. The steam-explosion pellets, after deactivation, had a CO 2 reactivity that was comparable to coke, a reducing agent that is commonly used in manganese-producing industries. About 90% of the potassium and sodium were removed from the biocarbon during catalytic decomposition of methane performed at 1100 °C. The alkali removal was calculated relative to the biocarbon produced under the same conditions, but with 100% N 2 purge instead of CH 4 . After catalytic decomposition, the surface area of the biocarbon was reduced by 11–34%, depending on the biocarbon type.

Keywords: woody biomass; biocarbon; catalytic methane decomposition; hydrogen; metal production (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/3/558/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/3/558/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:3:p:558-:d:1576676

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().