Sustainable syngas production by oxy-steam reforming of simulated biogas over NiCe/MgAl hydrotalcite-derived catalysts: Role of support preparation methods on activity

Abstract

Herein, a series of hydrotalcite-derived MgAl supports were prepared by co-precipitation and hydrothermal methods. NiCe/MgAl catalysts were prepared by loading Ni (10 wt%) and Ce (2.5 wt%) on supports using sequential incipient wetness impregnation and tested in oxy-steam reforming of simulated biogas to produce syngas. N2-physisorption, XRD, XPS, SEM, TEM, ICP-OES, TGA, and Raman were used for catalyst characterization. Reactivity was evaluated at 600 °C, 700 °C, and 800 °C with a constant GHSV (45,000 ml gcat−1 h−1) and feed ratio (CH4/CO2/O2/H2O = 1/0.67/0.1/0.3). The results demonstrate that increasing the co-precipitation aging temperature and the hydrothermal reaction temperature affected the surface area, pore volume, and Ni crystallite size. However, no significant change in reactivity was observed. The NiCe/MgAl catalyst with co-precipitation aging temperature of 140 °C (NCMA140-Co) exhibited lower carbon deposition probably due to higher Ce4+ concentration. Therefore, NCMA140-Co provided high stability and conversions of CH4 (94%) and CO2 (82%) with H2/CO ratio (1.6) at 800 °C without carbon deposition.