Comparative evaluation of Ru-coated fecralloy and SiC monolithic catalysts in catalytic partial oxidation of natural gas for hydrogen production

Abstract

The catalytic activity of structured catalysts comprising Fecralloy and SiC monoliths coated with Ru/Mg-Al oxide by deposition–precipitation was evaluated in the partial oxidation of natural gas and compared with that of a conventional pellet catalyst. The geometric surface area (GSA) of the Fecralloy and SiC monolithic catalysts were 377.0 × 10-4 and 118.5 × 10-4 m2, respectively; significantly larger than that of the 0.5% Ru/Al2O3 pellet catalyst (89.6 × 10-4 m2). Owing to the high GSA of the structured catalysts, a small amount of Ru (0.070–0.12 wt%) resulted in highly dispersed uniform loading. Thus, the structured catalysts exhibited higher performance for catalytic partial oxidation at varying C/O2 ratio, inlet temperature, and gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) than the pellet catalyst. However, in a stability test at high GHSV (50,000 h−1), the CH4 conversion of the Fecralloy monolithic catalyst decreased rapidly from 90% to less than 70% in 150 min. In addition, the Mg-Al oxide layer of the Fecralloy monolithic catalyst was damaged owing to material deterioration, resulting in a loss of Ru particles. In contrast, CH4 conversion catalyzed by the SiC monolithic catalysts remained above 85% even after 1000 min, and the material or support layer was not damaged even under severe conditions.