Catalytic dry reforming of methane using Ni/MgO-ZrO2 catalyst

Methane dry reforming is one of the important routes in natural gas processing. Here, CH4 and CO2 are converted into syngas CO and H2 which later can be used as feedstock for the processing of other chemicals such as CH3OH and NH3. Methane dry reforming requires the use of catalysts, often nickel-based, to increase the reaction rate. To date, the dry reforming of methane has limited commercial application due to the rapid deactivation of the catalysts. The reactants contain carbon species that has a high potential of blocking active sites on the catalyst surface, deactivating them. This study focuses on the use of 15% Ni/MgO-ZrO2 as a catalyst for CH4 dry reforming where the high basicity of MgO and the mobile oxygen species provided by ZrO2 are expected to provide high catalyst activity and stability. The catalysts were prepared using the impregnation method where a 1:1 mole ratio of MgO to ZrO2 was achieved. Surface characterization of the catalysts was conducted using advanced instrumentation such as the AAS for nickel loading, BET for surface area, pore volume, and average pore size, SEM_EDX for surface morphology and composition, XRD for bulk crystal structure, and TPD for the number of acidic and basic sites. The catalysts were placed inside a U-tube quartz reactor (7mmφ) and inserted into a tube furnace. Together with the carrier gas He, CH4 and CO 2 were injected into the reactor at 100 ml/min total flow rate. The CH4 dry reforming reaction was conducted at 850oC reaction temperature. The exit gases went into an on-line gas chromatograph for the determination of gas compositions