Application Of Ni/ZrO₂-CeO₂ Catalysts In CO₂-Oxy Reforming Of CH₄

There is considerable interesting in the efficient producing and feasible use of syngas as a clean energy source recently. Reforming of methane with CO₂-O₂ is one of the most promising methods to produce syngas. It takes two kinds of green house gases, CH₄ and CO₂, as the raw material to produce syngas, and is beneficial for environment protection. With the increasing demand of syngas, reforming of methane with CO₂-O₂ shows a promising industrial future, and attracts more and more attentions of researchers. The main obstacle in industrialization of methane reforming is the deactivation of the employed catalyst due to carbon deposition.In this work, reforming of methane with CO₂-O₂ was studied using Ni-based catalysts. Inorganic salts of Ce/Zr were used as the precursor to prepare oxide complex supports. The influences of preparation and calcinations methods on the supports properties were discussed. Ni/ZrO₂-CeO₂ was prepared by impregnation methods. The effect of solvent and Ce/Zr ratio were investigated. The activity measurements were carried out on fixed bed reactor under ambient pressure. The supports and catalysts were characterized by BET, XRD. The optimal catalyst and reaction conditions for reforming of methane with CO₂-O₂ were obtained by relating the characterization results of carriers/catalysts with their reaction properties.The supports calcined under FN2-SAir for 3 hours with Ce/Zr=1/2 have large specific surface area. The catalysts performed well in the reforming reaction when 9wt% Ni was loaded on them. The initial conversions of CH₄ at 95.1 %and CO₂ at 95.3% were obtained under the reaction condition of reaction temperature and catalyst reduction temperature at 850℃, with W/F of 0.5×10-4g·(ml·h-1)-1 and a raw material volume ratio of CH₄:CO₂:O₂=4:2:1, take 9% Ni/ZrO₂-CeO₂ (Ce/Zr=1/2) as the catalysts. And the conversationswere kept constant during experimental 120 hours, which indicating that the catalysts were excellent in activity and stability. The catalysts prepared by this method, therefore, showed a promising perspective for industrial applications.