Preparation of Modified Red Mud-Supported Fe Catalysts for Hydrogen Production by Catalytic Methane Decomposition

A modified red mud-(MRM-)supported Fe catalyst (xFe/MRM) was prepared using the homogeneous precipitation method and applied to methane decomposition to produce hydrogen. The TEM and SEM-EDX results suggested that the particle sizes of the xFe/MRM catalysts were much smaller than that of raw red mud (RM), and the active metal Fe was evenly distributed over the catalyst structure. Moreover, BET results indicated that the surface areas and pore volumes of the catalysts were significantly improved, and the pore sizes of xFe/MRM were distributed from 5 to 12 nm, which is typical for a mesoporous material. The activities of those catalysts for the catalytic decomposition of methane were studied at atmospheric pressure at a moderate temperature of 650 degrees C; the results showed that the xFe/MRM catalysts were more active than RM and MRM. The methane conversion curves of xFe/MRM catalysts exhibited similar variation tendencies (three-step) during the reaction despite different Fe contents, and the loading amount of Fe clearly affected the activity of the catalysts.