Dry reforming over mesoporous nanocrystalline 5% Ni/M-MgAl2O4 (M: CeO2, ZrO2, La2O3) catalysts.

In this article mesoporous nanocrystalline 5 wt%M-95 wt%MgAl 2 O 4 (M: CeO 2 , ZrO 2 , La 2 O 3) powders were prepared by a novel on-step sol-gel process and employed as a support for the synthesis of 5 wt%Ni catalysts for synthesis gas production via dry reforming. The magnesium aluminate spinel prepared with this sol-gel method possessed a high BET area of 264 m2 g−1 with a high pore volume of 0.436 cm3 g−1. The results indicated that the addition of promoters (CeO 2 , ZrO 2 , La 2 O 3) to magnesium aluminate improved the BET area and pore volume and also decreased the crystallite size. Among the prepared powders and catalysts, 5 wt%La 2 O 3 -95 wt%MgAl 2 O 4 and 5 wt%Ni/5 wt%CeO 2 -95 wt%MgAl 2 O 4 exhibited the highest BET area of 306 m2 g−1 and 263 m2 g−1, respectively. The catalytic results indicated that the 5 wt%Ni/5 wt%CeO 2 -95 wt%MgAl 2 O 4 catalyst exhibited the highest activity and the lowest carbon formation among the prepared catalysts with the same content of the promoter. The influence of the CeO 2 content on the textural and catalytic performance was also investigated and the results illustrated that the increment in CeO 2 content improved the methane conversion and reduced the amount of deposited carbon, which could be related to the redox properties of the catalyst support. • Dry reforming over 5% Ni/M-MgAl 2 O 4 (M: CeO 2 , ZrO 2 , La 2 O 3) catalysts was studied. • 5 wt%La 2 O 3 -95 wt%MgAl 2 O 4 powders showed the highest BET area. • The prepared catalysts exhibited mesoporous structure with high BET area. • 5%Ni/5%CeO 2 –95%MgAl 2 O 4 exhibited the highest activity and the lowest carbon formation. • The increment in CeO 2 content improved the activity and reduced the amount of deposited carbon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]