Synthesis gas reactions over catalysts formed by oxidation of thorium-containing intermetallic compounds

Abstract

The intermetallic compounds (ThNi, ThNi 2, ThNi 5, and Th 7Ni 3) react readily with oxygen to form an intimate mixture of Ni and ThO 2. These mixtures have been characterized by X-ray diffraction and CO and H 2 chemisorption measurements. The CO chemisorption increased markedly during the oxidation process. Increases by up to 500-fold compared to the original compound were observed. The NiThO 2 mixtures showed high activity for catalyzing the production of CH 4 from synthesis gas. Hence, the oxidation process can be considered to be a new way of producing oxide-supported Ni catalysts. Turnover numbers for the new catalysts at 205 °C were found to be much larger than those of conventional oxide-supported catalysts.