Effect of pretreatment conditions on catalytic performances of mesoporous Ni5/SBA-15 catalyst in methane dry reforming

Abstract

Researchers have been studying dry reforming of methane (DRM) to produce syngas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, from methane and carbon dioxide. In this study, catalysts containing 5% wt Ni dispersed on SBA-15 support were prepared by "two solvent impregnation" method. Without prior calcination, three samples were pretreated by reduction under different atmospheres (H2/Ar, N2, Ar) at 450°C with a heating rate of 0.5°C/min. Two other samples were reduced under H2/Ar but at different temperatures and heating rates (650°C with 10°C/min, and 450°C with 0.5°C/min). After the catalysts characterization (N2 sorption, XRD and TPR) and the catalytic tests (activity and stability), Ni5/SBA-15(U-H2) (reduced under H2/Ar at 450°C with a heating rate 0.5°C/min) showed the best catalytic performance among the other catalysts studied. The behavior of Ni5/SBA-15(U-H2) is close to the behavior of Ni5/SBA-15 calcined at 450°C with a heating rate 0.5°C/min.