Hydrogen, an environment-friendly energy source, is deemed to become strongly in demand over the next decades. In this work, COx-free hydrogen was produced by the thermal catalytic decomposition (TCD) of methane by a carbon catalyst. Deactivated catalysts at four-stage of progressive were characterized by nitrogen sorption and scanning electron microscopy. TCD of methane at 820 and 940 degrees C was about 13- and 8-folds higher than noncatalytic decomposition, respectively. High temperatures positively affected the kinetics of hydrogen production but negatively influenced the total amount of hydrogen and carbon products. The total pore volume was a good indicator of the total amount of hydrogen product. Catalyst activity was decreased because of the changes in the catalyst's textural properties within three ranges of relative time, that is, 0 to 45, 0.45 to 0.65, and 0.65 to 1. Models for specific surface area and total pore volume as functions of catalyst deactivation kinetics were developed. Copyright (C) 2014, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.