The carbon dioxide methanation reaction is highly exothermal (Delta H-R=-165 kJ mol(-1)). It is therefore essential to use processes able to control and efficiently evacuate the heat generated during the reaction. In this paper, a structured bed filled with an open cell foam was chosen due to the many advantages of this kind of reactor (high surface/volume ratio, low pressure drop, intensification of mass and heat transfer...). Three kind of open cell foams, with different thermal properties, were studied: SiC, Alumina and Aluminium. Coating procedures of a methanation catalyst (Ni/Ceria-Zirconia) developed in previous work for SiC open cell foams were adapted to alumina and aluminium open cell foams. For the first time, in situ infrared thermography was used to study the exothermicity of the reaction on the surface of different foams. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.