Thermal steam methane reforming over bimetal-loaded hemp-derived activated carbon-based catalyst for hydrogen production

Ni-Co loaded hemp-derived activated carbon (AC) catalyst is synthesized by the wet impregnation method for steam methane reforming (SMR) for hydrogen production. The monometallic and bimetallic metal (Co, Ni) catalysts were synthesized over activated AC with 5 wt% by the wet impregnation method and characterized by using various techniques. XRD and SEM results suggested that the catalysts with small metal crystallites promote a better dispersion of highly porous AC.The catalytic assessment of all synthesized catalysts for SMR was carried out in a thermal fixed bed reactor at 750 °C, WHSV 2000 mL CH₄ g⁻¹ h⁻¹, and S/C of 2.0. The catalytic results showed that among all the investigated samples, monometallic cobalt catalyst (5% Co@AC) exhibited the best results in terms of CH₄ conversion (97.17%) and H₂ production (66.08%). While the 5% Ni@AC and 5% NiCo@AC show a CH₄ conversion of 90.28% and 92.52%, respectively, whereas the H₂ production was 61.02% and 65.89%.