Dry reforming of methane over nanostructured Co/Y catalyst for hydrogen production: Effect of ultrasound irradiation and Co-loading on catalyst properties and performance

• Sonochemical and impregnation synthesis of Co/Y nanocatalyst.
• Enhanced properties of sonochemically synthesized Co/Y nanocatalyst.
• Application of Co/Y nanocatalyst in CO2 reforming of methane for syngas production.
• Enhancement of Co/Y-U catalyst activity by increasing cobalt loading.

This study investigates the effect of sonochemical method and various Co-loading over zeolite Y in dry reforming of methane. The ultrasound irradiation was employed to prepare Co/Y nanocatalysts and their performance compared to impregnation method. The samples properties were analyzed by XRD, FESEM, EDX, TEM, BET and FTIR techniques. The results show that sonochemical method produces highly dispersed nanoparticles with a high surface area in comparison to impregnation method. The existence of primary phases and elements were confirmed by XRD and EDX analysis. The peaks related to Co3O4 became shorter by ultrasound utilization. It was displayed that the active phase in Co(5 wt.%)/Y sono-catalyst had higher dispersion than impregnated one. Furthermore, TEM analysis showed that almost all cobalt particles size were less than 40 nm for sono-synthesized Co(5 wt.%)/Y, which is essential to increase catalysts activity. The sonochemical method dramatically increased initial activity of impregnated nanocatalyst and in comparison to other catalysts Co(10 wt.%)/Y sono-nanocatalyst had the best activity. Therefore, as a fast and economical method, sonochemical irradiation could produce an active catalyst in dry reforming process. However, the Co(10 wt.%)/Y sono-nanocatalyst activity was not stable after 600 min at 850 °C.

The ability of ultrasound irradiation was evaluated in preparation of Co/Y nanocatalyst with various Co-loadings and the results compared to impregnated one in dry reforming of methane. The nanocatalysts characterized by XRD, FESEM, EDX, TEM, BET and FTIR techniques. The sonochemical method produced excellent active phase dispersion with high activity. The initial activity of Co(5 wt.%)/Y catalyst synthesized via impregnation method was doubled after utilization of ultrasound irradiation. Moreover, the assessments showed that a growth in cobalt composition from 5 to 10 wt.% enhanced the initial catalyst activity.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide