Abstract:
Where the energy domain is shifting towards more clean and sustainable energy in
the wake of environmental deterioration, hydrogen has drawn the main attention as a
clean fuel in energy insights. Whereas various natural gas reforming techniques are
underway for optimum hydrogen production, the methane steam reforming technique
also plays a pivotal role alongside. Catalyst plays a central role in defining the
reforming processes. Coke deposition and catalyst deactivation is a technical term
that research primarily focuses on to improve catalytic performance. In this study,
the hemp leaves-derived activated carbon (AC) loaded Ni-Co catalyst is synthesized
by the wet-impregnation method for steam methane reforming (SMR) for optimum
hydrogen production. The monometallic and bimetallic metal catalysts are
synthesized over activated carbon support with 5wt.% by the wet impregnation
method. The fresh and spent catalyst undergoes a series of characterization methods
such as X-ray diffractometer (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with
Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR),
Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis (BET) and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) for
physiochemical studies and catalyst suitability for SMR. The catalytic assessment
test of all synthesized material for SMR was carried out in a fixed bed reactor at 750
°C WHSV 2000 mL CH4 g− and S/C of 2.0. The catalytic results showed that
among all investigated samples monometallic cobalt catalyst (5%Co@AC) recorded
best in terms of CH4 conversion (97.17%) and H2 production (66.08%) as XRD and
SEM results suggest the catalysts with smaller metal crystallites promote a better
dispersion of highly porous AC. The Ni/AC, Ni-Co/AC gives the CH4 conversion
(90.28%) and (92.52%) respectively, whereas the H2 production of Ni/AC and NiCo/AC
becomes 61.02% and 65.89% respectively.
