Ceramic Foam Catalyst Research Articles

Carbon Dioxide Reforming of Methane over Nickel Catalyst Supported on Ceramic Foam

Carbon dioxide reforming of CH4 was investigated over Ni catalyst supported on ceramic foam, which was a macro-porous medium. The catalyst showed a stable activity, and the pressure drop in a continuous flow reactor did not increase. On the other hand, the pressure drop increased on an industrial Ni catalyst by the carbonaceous deposition. The experiment was carried out in a pure CH4 flow in order to accelerate the carbonaceous deposition rate. The ceramic foam catalyst suppressed the increase in pressure of the reactor even though carbon deposited to a certain extent. It was revealed that the performance of the ceramic foam catalyst was due to its high porosity.

Ceramic Foam Catalyst Supports Preparation and Properties

Successful catalyst supports must fulfill different requirements simultaneously [1]. By serving as a base for catalytic components, they provide good activity and selectivity, but certain physical properties are equally important. For example, small catalyst particles are desirable in order to avoid external heat and mass transfer limitations and to provide high effectiveness for the active component dispersed throughout the particle. However, small particles pack with low bed porosities and unacceptable pressure drop results. Open-pore ceramic foams show promising properties that could overcome these difficulties. They have good high temperature resistance, low bulk density and tortuous flow patterns, together with open porosity as high as 85% formed from megapores 0.04 to 1.5 mm in diameter [2]. Characteristic parameters include cell size, window size and surface area, all correlated with the number of pores per inch [PPI]. Ceramic foams were first used as molten metal filters [3,4] and catalytic combustion devices [5–7]. Catalytic applications are beginning to appear and these have been reviewed by Twigg and Richardson [8].