Dry reforming of natural gas

Dry reforming reaction involves reaction between methane, major component of natural gas, and carbon dioxide to produce syngas. Important feed stock to chemical and petrochemical industries to produce many kinds of chemical such as methanol, ammonia is derived from syngas. It also source for hydrogen that can be used directly or in a fuel cell. About 50% of all hydrogen is produced from natural gas. Furthermore, the dry reforming reaction has an environmental benefit where it consumes CO2 and methane which are classified as green house gases that cause global warming. This paper presents an experimental investigation for dry reforming reaction using Nickel based catalyst prepared by impregnation method. Two supports (alumina and silica) and calcination temperatures of the range from 500 to 800˚C were used. The prepared catalysts were tested in micro reactor at atmospheric pressure, 10 ml/min flow rate and at 500, 550 and 575 ˚C temperatures. The results indicated that alumina is better than silica from stability and reactivity points of view. In fact, higher CH4 Conversion and hydrogen yield were obtained with alumina. On the other hand, catalyst calcined at 600˚C gives higher CH4 conversion than catalyst calcined at 800 ˚