Study on coke formation over Ni/γ-Al2O3, Co-Ni/γ-Al2O3, and Mg-Co-Ni/γ-Al2O3 catalysts for carbon dioxide reforming of methane

•Catalytic stability strongly depends on the rate and type of coke formation.•MgO effectively prevents the formation of a fatal encapsulating carbon species.•Stability of 3Mg3Co3Ni is due to rapid decomposition/dissociation of CH4 and CO2.

Ni/γ-Al2O3, CoNi/γ-Al2O3, and MgCoNi/γ-Al2O3 catalysts have been applied for the carbon dioxide reforming of methane reaction (CDR) and coke formation in the used catalysts has been investigated to understand the beneficial effect of Mg and Co. The MgCoNi/γ-Al2O3 catalyst exhibits the highest catalytic performance (XCH4 > 95% for 200 h) and has high coke resistance in CDR. This is due to the addition of Mg and Co accelerates the decomposition/dissociation of CH4 and CO2.

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