Syngas production by combined carbon dioxide reforming and partial oxidation of methane over Ni/α-Al2O3 catalysts

Ni/α-Al2O3 catalysts were found to be active in the temperature range 600∼900 °C for both CO2 reforming and partial oxidation of methane. The effects of Ni loading, reaction temperature and feed gas ratio for the combination of CO2 reforming and partial oxidation of CH4 over Ni/α-Al2O3 were investigated. Catalysts of xwt%Ni/α-Al2O3 (x= 2.5, 5, 8 and 12) were prepared by wet impregnating the calcined support with a solution of nickel nitrate. XRD patterns and activity tests have verified that the 5wt%Ni/α-Al2O3 was the most active catalyst, as compared with the other prepared catalyst samples. An increase of the Ni loading to more than 5 wt% led to a reduction in the Ni dispersion. In addition, by combining the endothermic carbon dioxide reforming reaction with the exothermic partial oxidation reaction, the loss of catalyst activity with time on stream was reduced with the amount of oxygen added to the feed.