Characteristics and activity of Ni/CeO<sub>2</sub> catalyst modified by Cr<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> in combined steam and CO2 reforming of CH4

Abstract

A series of 10%wtNiO/CeO2-nanorod catalyst without and with Cr2O3 additive was prepared by simultaneous impregnation method. Several techniques, including N2 physisorption measurements, X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), temperature-programmed reduction using H2 (H2-TPR), CO2 temperature-programmed desorption (CO2-TPD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to investigate catalysts’ physico-chemical properties. The activity of the catalysts in combined steam and CO2 reforming of CH4 (BRM) was investigated at temperature range of 550-800 °C. The results showed that 10%NiO0.1%Cr2O3/CeO2 catalyst had the best catalytic performance due to a better reducibility and basicity. At 700 °C and CH4:CO2:H2O molar ratio in feed stream of 3:1.2:2.4, both conversion of CH4 and CO2 on this catalyst reached 98.5%.