Catalytic cracking of biomass tar over char supported nickel catalyst

The surface characteristics of Pre- and Post- char supported 6 wt% loading Ni catalysts were analyzed with BET, SEM, XRD and XPS. The BET and SEM results indicated that there was a slight deposition of coke on the surface of char after catalytic cracking. Meanwhile, XRD and XPS results indicated that NiO was transformed into Ni via carbothermal and hydrogenation reductions which contributed to the enhancement of tar conversion. These findings manifested that char supported nickel catalyst can be used as a low-cost catalyst to decompose tar.