CO2 reforming of methane to syngas over highly active and stable Pt/MgO catalysts

Pt/MgO catalysts were prepared by wet impregnation. At 800 °C and atmospheric pressure, Pt/MgO catalysts exhibited a high stability at high gas hourly space velocity of 36,000 ml/g h with a CH4/CO2 ratio of 1.0. During 72 h time on stream, the conversion of CH4 and CO2 remained almost constant, at about 88% and 90%, respectively. There was no loss of Pt. After reaction, the XRD peaks of MgO became broader, indicating amorphization of MgO, which was supported by TEM results. XPS indicated that the reforming reaction had little influence on Pt. CO2-TPSR results showed that some carbon deposition occurred under stoichiometric feed of CH4 and CO2, but it did not result in the deactivation of the catalyst. The deposited carbon came mainly from the decomposition of methane.