Abstract:A growing interest in hydrogen use has been observed due to its environmentally friendly characteristics. However, the current methods of hydrogen production from natural gas are based on steam methane reforming, partial oxidation, and autothermal reforming. These processes produce a mixture of hydrogen and carbon oxides and after water-gas shift reactions, in order to increase the production of hydrogen, a large amount of cO 2 is generated and possibly released in the atmosphere. In this context, the catalytic methane decomposition has been receiving attention as an alternative route to the production of cO x -free hydrogen. It has been reported that the appropriate group of catalysts and reactors can lead to a viable process. current investigations attempt to increase the yield of hydrogen. The present work aims to evaluate the processes currently used for that and to present the preliminary results obtained with cobalt catalysts for methane decomposition. A comparison between the conventional processes and the suggested ones is made, and the major advantages in the use of methane decomposition are presented.