Carbon dioxide reforming of methane over Ni/Mo/SBA-15-La2O3 catalyst: Its characterization and catalytic performance

The Ni/Mo/SBA-15 catalyst was modified by La2O3 in order to improve its thermal stability and carbon deposition resistance during the CO2 reforming of methane to syngas. The catalytic performance, thermal stability, structure, dispersion of nickel and carbon deposition of the modified and unmodified catalysts were comparatively investigated by many characterization techniques such as N2 adsorption, H2-TPR, CO2-TPD, XRD, FT-IR and SEM. It was found that the major role of La2O3 additive was to improve the pore structure and inhibit carbon deposition on the catalyst surface. The La2O3 modified Ni/Mo/SBA-15 catalyst possessed a mesoporous structure and high surface area. The high surface area of the La2O3 modified catalysts resulted in strong interaction between Ni and Mo-La, which improved the dispersion of Ni, and retarded the sintering of Ni during the CO2 reforming process. The reaction evaluation results also showed that the La2O3 modified Ni/Mo/SBA-15 catalysts exhibited high stability.