Studies of the dissociation activities of methane and carbon dioxide over supported nickel catalyst

•Pulse experiment for testing the dissociation activity of CH4 and CO2 on supported Ni.•Dissociated CO2 easily produced adsorbed carbon on (Ni)/δ-Al2O3.•Ni/CeO2 has a high dissociation activity of CO2 to produce CO.•Pre-adsorbed CHx species increased the dissociation of CO2 to CO on Ni/δ-Al2O3.•CHx was effectively released as CO from the surface by pre-adsorbed oxygen on Ni/CeO2.

Pulse experiments for testing the dissociation activity of CH4 and CO2 were carried out on supported Ni catalysts (Ni/Al2O3, Ni/La2O3, and Ni/CeO2) with or without pre-adsorbed species on the catalysts. The CO2 pulse on Ni/Al2O3 produced a small amount of CO without pre-adsorbed species, while a CO2 pulse produced more CO in the presence of CHx species on Ni/Al2O3. The CHx species on Ni/Al2O3 promote the dissociation of CO2 on the catalyst. The production of CO by the CH4 pulse was low on Ni/Al2O3 regardless of the presence of adsorbed species by the pre-pulse of CO2, while both H2 and CO were effectively produced on Ni/CeO2.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload high-quality image (112 K)Download as PowerPoint slide