Nickel on zeolites for dry reforming of methane

Abstract

The depletion of the worldwide crude oil reserves has pushed experts to search for an alternative fossil fuel that can compensate the huge global energy demand. Natural Gas, which is a combustible gas available in the Earths crust along with crude oil, appeared to be a promising, and an environmentally friendly source of energy. Due to its availability and large quantities, natural gas would play a significant role for the worlds supply of fuel in the future. Natural gas can be processed by Dry Reforming in order to produce syngas which can be utilized later on in many industrial processes. This study focuses on the Dry Reforming process catalyzed by Nickel impregnated on NaY zeolite. Different samples of the catalyst were prepared via two methods: the classical impregnation or incipient wetness method and the two solvents method, with a variation in the active phase impregnation percentage (2.5%, 5%, 7.5% and 15%) and one sample with 7.5% impregnated Nickel was prepared with the addition of 0.1% Rhodium promoter. These samples were characterized by several techniques: TEM, TPR, EDS, XRD and N2 sorption and were tested under activity and stability tests in order to find the best catalyst to be used in the Dry Reforming process. The catalyst prepared with 15% impregnated Nickel by the two solvents method showed the best activity and stability among all the prepared samples, because it reached 50% conversion at lower temperatures (around 408°C) and also reached 100% conversion (at around 500°C) which was not the case of the other samples. Also, this sample showed a better stability for both CH4 and CO2 conversions.