INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY, vol.45, no.27, pp.13911-13928, 2020 (SCI-Expanded)
In this study, the catalytic activity of the mesoporous SBA-15 supported Ni-Al, Ni-Zr, and Ni-Ti catalysts prepared by an impregnation method were investigated in dry reforming of methane. In addition, Al incorporated SBA-15 (Al-SBA-15) materials used as catalyst support were synthesized following a one-pot hydrothermal route in three different conditions: synthesis in the presence of only HCl, only NaCl, and both HCl and NaCl (denoted as A, S, and B, respectively). All catalysts were characterized by XRD, N-2 adsorption-desorption isotherms, ICP-OES, DRIFTS, SEM, TEM-EDX and TGA techniques before and/or after reaction tests. Among Al, Zr, and Ti impregnated catalysts, Ni-Al impregnated catalyst showed the highest activity in dry reforming of methane. According to activity test results, Al-SBA-15 supported Ni catalyst prepared by the one-pot hydrothermal route in the presence of both HCl and NaCl showed the best catalytic activity with high methane (81%) and carbon dioxide conversion (88%) values at 750 degrees C. The highest H-2 and CO selectivity values were obtained with the same catalyst with an H-2/CO molar ratio of 0.80. Therefore, these results showed that partial Al (0.11%) incorporated into the structure of SBA-15 was sufficient to improve the catalytic activity of the catalyst in dry reforming of methane. (C) 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.