Hydrogen production by corncob/CO2 dry reforming over CeO2 modified Ni-based MCM-22 catalysts

•Hydrogen and syngas production is interesting from corncob/CO2 reforming reaction.•Segregation action of CeO2 promoted high dispersion of nickel particles.•4CeO2 9Ni/MCM-22 presented the best catalytic activity and stability.

A series of xCeO2.9Ni/MCM-22 catalysts (Ni: CeO2 weight ratio 9:0, 9:1, 9:2, 9:4, 9:8, 9:12) was prepared by a sol-gel method. The production of hydrogen from corncob (biomass) was performed using CO2 dry reforming reaction. The performance of the catalysts was evaluated in the presence of CO2 and/or air at atmospheric pressure for H2 and CO product distribution from corncob at different temperatures. The presence of CeO2 in Ni/MCM-22 results in the enhancement of initial catalytic activity, while 4%CeO2 9Ni/MCM-22 catalyst performed the best, exhibiting excellent catalytic activity at different reaction conditions. The fresh and used catalysts in corncob/CO2 reforming reaction were characterized by N2-physisorption, XRD, FT-IR, H2-TPR, O2-TPD, CO2-TPD, UV–Vis, TG/DSC and Raman spectroscopy.