Carbon dioxide reforming of methane by solid state synthesis supported catalysts

•MgAl2O4 catalyst support was synthesized by solid state reaction for the first time.•The support had a surface area three times that obtained by co-precipitation.•Ni catalyst on such a support showed high reactivity for CO2 reforming of CH4.

Ni catalyst supported on MgAl2O4 mixed oxide was prepared by solid state synthesis, co-precipitation and wet impregnation. The mixed oxide support was synthesized by the solid state synthesis at room temperature (MgAl2O4solid) and co-precipitation method (MgAl2O4cop) respectively, followed by wet impregnation for Ni loading. The catalytic performances of these samples were compared in carbon dioxide reforming of methane at 700 °C. The results showed that the catalyst Ni/MgAl2O4solid with mixed oxide support prepared by solid state synthesis greatly affected the properties and performance of the catalyst. The catalyst Ni/MgAl2O4solid showed higher CO2 and CH4 conversion than the Ni/MgAl2O4cop catalyst with the support prepared by conventional co-precipitation method. In addition, the BET surface area of the catalyst Ni/MgAl2O4solid was three times larger than the catalyst Ni/MgAl2O4cop.