Preparation and Characterization of nickel based catalyst for the production of carbon nanotube from biogas

Abstract

Process of catalysis is an important step in the synthesis of Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) om Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) of biogas. Literature mainly reports on the use of pure methane as the i raw material gas and the use of biogas is a novel option. Nickel is one of the active transition metal based catalysts that has been studied by many researchers with methane. It has a | significant catalytic activity and high life time. Preparation and characterization of high loaded NiO catalyst supported on Si02 by the heterophase sol-gel method were studied in this work. The catalysts prepared were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopic (SEM) imaging and Energy Dispersive X-Ray (EDX) analysis. Catalyst particles in nanometer range were observed with 66% Ni loading which can be used for synthesizing CNTs. The catalyst prepared by calcining at 500 °C showed better ;jj characteristics as a catalyst compared to that of the preparation at 250 °C.