The present study focuses on the growth of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on Fe-containing zeolites coated porous ceramics by implementing three different and independent techniques, successively. Direct foaming-derived porous ceramics were subjected to hydrothermal reaction for on-site growth of NaA zeolites within it. The porous ceramics-zeolite composite was subjected to ion-exchange reaction to obtain the catalyst for CNT synthesis. Multi-walled CNTs (MWCNTs) were grown by catalytic chemical vapour deposition (CCVD) process using acetylene as carbon source. Microstructural, thermogravimetric and spectroscopic analyses showed distinctive differences in terms of hollow structural feature, yield and crystallinity of the MWCNTs with different reaction temperatures. (c) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.