Biogas reforming over La-promoted Ni/SBA-16 catalyst for syngas production: Catalytic structure and process activity investigation

Abstract

Biogas, a mixture of CO2/CH4, is reasonable for conversion to syngas (H2/CO) by dry methane reforming (DMR) reaction. The modification of Ni/SBA-16 with a lanthanum promoter using the co-impregnation technique is investigated in this study. The temperature of reaction (600–750 °C), La loading (3.85–11.56 wt%), and Ni loading (10–30 wt%) are the parameters that are varied for maximizing reaction conversions. The synthesized catalysts and SBA-16 supporting material were characterized by several methods before and after reaction. According to the analysis, the existence of La2O3 particles on the catalyst's surface has decreased the particle sizes, as well as enhanced their dispersion. Therefore, the maximum CH4 conversion of 94.21%, CO2 conversion of 90.12%, H2 yield of 90.53%, and H2/CO molar ratio of 2.03 are achieved using 20Ni-5.78La/SBA16 at 700 °C. Besides, this catalyst showed lower deposited coke and higher stability compared with other synthesized catalysts.