Preparation and improvement of the mesoporous nanostructured nickel catalysts supported on magnesium aluminate for syngas production by glycerol dry reforming

Abstract

Dry reforming of glycerol is an interesting method for syngas production due to its H2/CO ≈ 1 that is suitable for FT synthesis. In this study, the performance of the Ni/MgO.Al2O3 catalysts with different nickel contents was investigated in glycerol dry reforming. The MgO.Al2O3 carrier was prepared by a simple sol-gel method and the nickel-based catalysts were synthesized by the wet impregnation method. The prepared catalysts possessed high BET surface area and pore volume. The TPR analysis showed a strong interaction between Ni and the catalyst support. The results demonstrated that the glycerol conversion decreased by increasing in CO2/glycerol (GRR) molar ratio. All the prepared samples showed high stability in glycerol dry reforming during 25 h of reaction, indicating the high resistance of the catalysts against carbon formation. Also, 10 wt%Ni/MgO.Al2O3 catalysts possessed the highest catalytic performance (52% of glycerol conversion at 750 °C) due to the high dispersion of nickel on the prepared carrier.