Ni/Al2O3 catalysts for CO methanation: Effect of Al2O3 supports calcined at different temperatures

Abstract

The correlation between phase structures and surface acidity of Al2O3 supports calcined at different temperatures and the catalytic performance of Ni/Al2O3 catalysts in the production of synthetic natural gas (SNG) via CO methanation was systematically investigated. A series of 10 wt% NiO/Al2O3 catalysts were prepared by the conventional impregnation method, and the phase structures and surface acidity of Al2O3 supports were adjusted by calcining the commercial γ-Al2O3 at different temperatures (600–1200 °C). CO methanation reaction was carried out in the temperature range of 300–600 °C at different weight hourly space velocities (WHSV = 30000 and 120000 mL·g−1·h−1) and pressures (0.1 and 3.0 MPa). It was found that high calcination temperature not only led to the growth in Ni particle size, but also weakened the interaction between Ni nanoparticles and Al2O3 supports due to the rapid decrease of the specific surface area and acidity of Al2O3 supports. Interestingly, Ni catalysts supported on Al2O3 calcined at 1200 °C (Ni/Al2O3-1200) exhibited the best catalytic activity for CO methanation under different reaction conditions. Lifetime reaction tests also indicated that Ni/Al2O3-1200 was the most active and stable catalyst compared with the other three catalysts, whose supports were calcined at lower temperatures (600, 800 and 1000 °C). These findings would therefore be helpful to develop Ni/Al2O3 methanation catalyst for SNG production.