Synthesis gas production over highly active and stable nanostructured NiMgOAl2O3 catalysts in dry reforming of methane: Effects of Ni contents

- CH4 reforming with CO2 reaction was performed on NiMgOAl2O3 catalysts.
- The catalysts exhibited mesoporous nanocrystalline structure with high BET area.
- The catalysts showed high activity and stability in dry reforming reaction.

In this paper, CH4 reforming with CO2 was studied over NiMgOAl2O3 catalysts with various Ni contents for the production of syngas (a mixture of H2 and CO). Mesoporous nanocrystalline NiMgOAl2O3 catalysts with the high specific surface area were prepared using a simple co-precipitation method. The samples were characterized by N2 adsorption/desorption (BET), X-ray diffraction (XRD), temperature-programmed reduction and oxidation (TPR and TPO), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. The prepared catalysts exhibited high catalytic performance (activity and stability) in dry reforming reaction. The obtained results indicated that the increase in nickel content increased both the reactant conversions and the amount of deposited carbon (whisker type carbon) on nickel catalysts. In addition, the effect of feed ratio was examined and the results showed that the increase in CO2/CH4 molar ratio from 0.5 to 3.0 increased the methane conversion and decreased the carbon dioxide conversion. With the increase of gas hourly space velocity (GHSV), the methane and carbon dioxide conversions decreased.