Catalytic Carbon Dioxide Reforming of Methane to Synthesis Gas

Abstract

The reforming of methane with carbon dioxide for the production of synthesis gas is newlineappealing because it produces synthesis gas with higher purity and lower H2 to CO ratio than newlineeither partial oxidation or steam reforming. Lower H2 to CO ratio is a preferable feedstock for newlinethe Fischer-Tropsch synthesis of long-chain hydrocarbons. On the environmental perspective, newlinemethane reforming is enticing due to the reduction of carbon dioxide and methane emissions newlineas both are viewed as harmful greenhouse gases. Commercially, nickel is used for methane newlinesteam reforming reactions due to its inherent availability and lower cost compared to noble newlinemetals. The same catalyst can be used for the dry reforming of the methane (DRM). However, newlinenickel-alumina catalyst faces the severe problem of deactivation for the DRM due to newlinesignificant coke formation. Thus, notable efforts have been concentrated on exploring new newlinecatalysts, which are resistant to carbon formation. Therefore environmental friendly DRM newlineprocess was studied in the present study with main objective is to develop active and stable newlinenickel-alumina catalyst with promoters which can be scaled-up. The catalysts were prepared newlineby various methods like wet impregnation, co-precipitation, sol-gel, citrate etc. The nickel newlineloading was varied in order to optimize its content. The promoters like ceria, zirconia and newlinemagnesia were incorporated in the nickel catalysts to enhance the activity and stability of newlineDRM process. Dry reforming of methane was carried out in the solid-gas fixed bed catalytic newlinereactor at atmospheric pressure, temperature 650-800 oC and 24000-48000 GHSV (gas hourly newlinespace velocity). Catalysts were subjected to various characterization techniques like XRD, newlineBET, SEM, FTIR, AAS, TG-DTA etc to correlate the activity and properties of catalysts for newlinesubsequent improvement in the catalyst performance. Time on stream stability test was newlinecarried out to check and improve the stability of the catalysts. Ni/Al2O3 catalysts faced very newlinehigh deactivation compared to ceria, zirconia and magn