Nickel oxide as an effective catalyst for catalytic combustion of methane

Coal mine methane can be utilized to produce electrical power even in the case of low concentration by way of catalytic combustion. Simple metal oxides MxOy (M = Fe, Co, Ni, Cu) were tested in the present work as catalysts for catalytic combustion of methane. It is found that the NiO catalyst had a high catalytic activity, superior to the perovskite catalyst LaCoO₃under the same reaction conditions. Amounts of O₂adsorption on the simple metal oxides were measured to reveal the catalytic activities. Furthermore, effect of water vapor in the reaction gas stream on methane combustion was evaluated.