Enhanced activity and stability for combined steam and CO2 reforming of methane over NiLa/MgAl2O4 catalyst

Abstract

Ni-based catalysts were widely studied for methane reforming system in the past decades, while catalytic deactivation by carbon deposition and metal sintering limited its industrial application life. In this work, La-promoted Ni/MgAl2O4 catalysts were investigated over methane bi-reforming reaction, and significantly improved the activity and stability of catalysts. Multiple characterizations showed that the introduction of La increased the content and dispersion of active species (Ni0), providing sufficient sites for methane adsorption and dissociation. Besides, smaller particle size of active metal (12.6 nm) was proved to inhibiting carbon accumulation on catalyst surface. Ni10La5/MgAl2O4 catalyst was found to exhibit the highest catalytic performance (93% of CH4 conversion, 71% of CO2 conversion and less than 3% activity loss) under long-term reaction conditions (800 °C, 10 h). This work will provide important guiding significance for the design of high-efficiency methane reforming catalysts.