Facile one-step preparation of ordered mesoporous Ni–M–Al (M = K, Mg, Y, and Ce) oxide catalysts for methane dry reforming

Abstract

Despite significant efforts towards dry reforming of methane (DRM) for syngas production, the short catalyst lifetime is a key challenge, particularly with regard to Ni-based catalysts with considerable activity and low cost. In this work, a series of well-ordered hexagonal mesoporous Ni–M–Al (M = K, Mg, Y, and Ce) oxide catalysts with a fixed Ni content and a Ni/M molar ratio were facilely synthesized via a one-step evaporation induced self-assembly (EISA) strategy. The as-synthesized catalysts were characterized by means of X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), N₂ physisorption, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), CO chemisorption, H₂ temperature-programmed reduction (H₂-TPR), temperature-programmed desorption (TPD), thermogravimetric analysis (TG), and Raman spectroscopy, and then the influence of promoters (K, Mg, Y, and Ce) on the catalytic performances of the ordered mesoporous NiO–Al₂O₃ catalyst was studied in the DRM process. The characterization results indicated that ordered mesoporous architectures were successfully obtained for all the catalysts, and the addition of promoters (K, Mg, Y, and Ce) had little influence on the morphology of the ordered mesoporous NiO–Al₂O₃ catalyst. The evaluation results showed that the Ni–Y–Al oxide catalyst exhibited excellent DRM performance with lower carbon deposition among the investigated catalysts due to improved S_BET and Ni dispersion, as well as smaller Ni nanoparticles confined in the ordered mesoporous framework.