A comparison of Al2O3 and SiO2 supported Ni-based catalysts in their performance for the dry reforming of methane

Abstract

Dry reforming of methane (DRM) with CO2 is of great significance in the environmental protection and the utilization of natural gas. SiO2 and Al2O3 are two typical catalyst supports used in DRM. To elucidate the effect of these two supports on the catalytic performance, in this work, Ni/SiO2 and Ni/Al2O3 catalysts are prepared by the incipient wetness method and characterized by BET, TEM, H2-TPR, XRD, TG and Raman technologies. The results indicate that the performance of Ni-based catalyst is closely related to the properties of support and the Ni/SiO2 and Ni/Al2O3 catalysts are rather different in their DRM performance. Ni/SiO2 catalyst exhibits higher initial activity but poor stability; its catalytic activity decreases rapidly in 15 h for DRM at 800°C. Because of the weak metal-support interaction, Ni species on the Ni/SiO2 catalyst is present as large Ni particles, which may promote the formation of coke precursors, viz., the multi-carbon Cn species, leading to the fast carbonaceous deposition and catalyst deactivation. In contrast, the Ni/Al2O3 catalyst displays a lower activity but a much higher stability; its activity in DRM keeps stable in 50 h. Although Ni particles in the Ni/Al2O3 catalyst is much smaller, the strong metal-support interaction promotes the formation of NiAlxOy species during the catalyst preparation process, which may lead to a decrease in the content of active Ni species and give the Ni/Al2O3 catalyst a relatively low catalytic activity in DRM; however, the strong metal-support interaction between Ni and Al2O3 is also of benefit to the formation and stabilization of small Ni particles, which can alleviate the carbanceous deposition and afford the Ni/Al2O3 catalyst a better stability.