Hydrogen is often considered to be the energy source of the future and reducing agent for chemical and metallurgical processes. However, it is necessary to produce hydrogen via processes, which generate none or less CO2. Methane pyrolysis, the reaction of methane to hydrogen and carbon, is a promising option fulfilling the desired requirements. The process offers two possible routes. On one hand, it can be non-catalytic requiring temperatures above 1000 °C, and on the other hand with the use of a catalyst. The theoretical part starts with a basic description of different process routes, followed by a more detailed analysis based on experimental data of scientific publications. Furthermore, the industrially applied processes and associated patents are discussed, forming the final part of the theoretical section. The second part of the thesis is dealing with experimental investigation, wherein experiments were carried out through thermal and catalytic methane pyrolysis in a tube reactor with up to 1200 °C. After successful start-up and experiments with an empty tube, different bed materials were used to test their catalytic activity. According to these trials, activated carbon shows the highest activity, starting the formation of hydrogen at less than 650 °C, but it also suffered from the strongest deactivation. This could be seen in the hydrogen concentration, which never reached a constant value. After a maximum the hydrogen content in the product gas quickly decreased. As described in the literature deactivation is the main challenge for catalytic methane pyrolysis in fixed bed reactors. Therefore, further research and developments to achieve a higher catalyst stability as well as optimization of the process conditions are needed.