Catalytic Decomposition of Methane using Thermally Sprayed Coatings

Methane emissions are the major contributors of green house gases, consequently leading to climate changes due to their ability to trap heat in the atmosphere. The harmful effects such as air quality degradation, severe respiratory as well as cardiovascular diseases, and reduced health of vegetations, makes it a necessity to reduce the methane emissions. Thermally sprayed coatings when used as catalytic coatings could enable the decomposition of methane, hence lowering the emissions. Preliminary own tests of twin-wire arc thermally sprayed coatings of metal alloys confirm the decomposition of methane emissions. Usually, the decomposition of methane requires thin film catalyst used in an inert atmosphere at increased temperatures. The efficiency of catalysts in presence of oxygen is challenging. The main focus of this research work is to enable methane decompositions in absence of inert conditions as well as comparatively lower catalyst activation temperatures using thermally sprayed optimised catalytic coatings. Different combinations of spray additive coatings are to be investigated and compared to the methane emissions in absence of thermally sprayed catalytic coatings.