Carbon dioxide reforming of methane over Ni/Mo/SBA-15-La 2O 3 catalyst: Its characterization and catalytic performance

Abstract

The Ni/Mo/SBA-15 catalyst was modified by La 2O 3 in order to improve its thermal stability and carbon deposition resistance during the CO 2 reforming of methane to syngas. The catalytic performance, thermal stability, structure, dispersion of nickel and carbon deposition of the modified and unmodified catalysts were comparatively investigated by many characterization techniques such as N 2 adsorption, H 2-TPR, CO 2-TPD, XRD, FT-IR and SEM. It was found that the major role of La 2O 3 additive was to improve the pore structure and inhibit carbon deposition on the catalyst surface. The La 2O 3 modified Ni/Mo/SBA-15 catalyst possessed a mesoporous structure and high surface area. The high surface area of the La 2O 3 modified catalysts resulted in strong interaction between Ni and Mo-La, which improved the dispersion of Ni, and retarded the sintering of Ni during the CO 2 reforming process. The reaction evaluation results also showed that the La 2O 3 modified Ni/Mo/SBA-15 catalysts exhibited high stability.