Metal oxide (MgO, CaO, and La2O3) promoted Ni-Ce0.8Zr0.2O2 catalysts for H2 and CO production from two major greenhouse gases

• The metal oxide promoted Ni-Ce0.8Zr0.2O2 catalysts have been applied for CDR.
• The Ni-MgO-Ce0.8Zr0.2O2 catalyst exhibits the highest activity and stability.
• This catalyst also has a high resistance to coke formation and sintering of Ni.
• This is due to small Ni size, a strong basicity, and an intimate interaction.

The metal oxide (MgO, CaO, and La2O3) promoted Ni-Ce0.8Zr0.2O2 catalysts have been applied for carbon dioxide reforming of methane (CDR) reaction and investigated the coke formation and sintering phenomenon in used catalysts. The Ni-MgO-Ce0.8Zr0.2O2 catalyst exhibits high activity and stability at a very high gas hourly space velocity of 480,000 h−1, resulting from high resistance to coke formation and Ni sintering. This is mainly due to small Ni crystallite size, strong basicity of MgO, and an intimate interaction between Ni and MgO.