Methanation of Carbon Dioxide over a Highly Dispersed Ni/La2O3 Catalyst

Abstract

The methanation of carbon dioxide on a Ni/La2O3 catalyst containing 10 wt% Ni prepared by the impregnation method was studied. The space-time yield of methane was 3000 g/(kg·h) at conditions of 350 °C, GHSV of 30000 h−1, 1.5 MPa pressure, and H2/CO2 molar ratio of 4. The selectivity for methane was 100% with different CO2 conversions. Combined with X-ray diffraction and H2 temperature-programmed reduction analyses, this suggested that the reaction mechanism on Ni/La2O3 may be different from that on Ni/γ-Al2O3. The formation of lanthanum oxycarbonate (La2O2CO3) can play an important role in the activation of CO2.