Dry reforming of methane (DRM) offers a promising path for greenhouse gas conversion, but industry usually relies on pressurization conditions, and the drawback of rapid carbon deposition leading to deactivation of conventional catalysts under pressurization has hindered its industrial development. In this study, a cost-effective N-doped Co-based DRM catalyst was developed by utilizing melamine to induce heteroatom doping defects on modified lignite to overcome the problem of deactivation due to rapid carbon deposition under pressurized conditions. The catalyst, Co/CN-40 (Impregnated with 40 wt% melamine), has the smallest metal particle size (3.13 nm), the largest specific surface area (376 m2/g), high defectivity (ID/IG ratio = 0.84), enhanced metal-support interactions and a relatively high pyridine N content (48%). The evaluation of DRM activity and stability at 780 °C and 0.5 MPa demonstrates that Co/CN-40 offers the highest catalytic efficiency. The highest conversion was quickly achieved by the catalyst during activity assessments, and maintain an efficient conversion with suppressed metal agglomeration over a 100-h stability test. These improvements are attributed to the increase in the number of defects which enhances electron transfer, improves metal anchoring and boosts the adsorption and activation of reactant molecules.
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