Methane dry reforming over mesoporous La2O3 supported Ni catalyst for syngas production

Abstract

Abstract In this study, aiming to obtain highly active methane dry reforming (DRM) catalysts with superior coke-resistance. Nanocasting method selecting KIT-6 as hard-template has been employed to synthesize mesoporous La2O3 support, which was applied to support Ni nanoparticles for DRM reaction. N2 adsorption-desorption demonstrates that mesoporous structure is well formed in the La2O3-KIT-6 support with high specific surface area of 81.2 m2 g−1. As support for Ni, much smaller Ni particle size with higher Ni dispersion could be achieved, as evidenced by XRD and H2-TPD results. In addition, XRD and TGA/DSC results indicated that on the 5%Ni/La2O3–S and 5%Ni/La2O3-HT catalysts, the generated La2O2CO3 cannot react timely with the coke due to the poor Ni dispersion, resulting the accumulation of the both on the catalysts surface. However, La2O3-KIT-6 support with high surface area can highly disperse Ni active sites and enlarged the interfaces between La2O2CO3 and Ni, thus facilitate the reaction between the coke and the La2O2CO3 species and keep the surface of Ni sites more clean and active. Therefore, Ni/La2O3-KIT-6 catalyst exhibits excellent catalytic performance as well as the coke-resistance.