(544fl) Trireforming of Methane for the Production of Syngas over Fe@MWCNT/Co Catalysts

Trireforming of methane has the potential advantages of combining all the three reforming processes in a single reformer unit by utilizing flue gases to reform the natural gas to produce syngas. Optimizing the flue gas composition by a pre-processing unit, syngas with the desired CO/H2 ratio can be obtained with less carbon deposition as well as less energy requirements. A major limitation of methane reforming processes is the rapid deactivation of the catalyst, which has commonly been attributed to the sintering of the active sites of catalyst and carbon formation on these sites, induced by methane decomposition and CO disproportionation or Boudouard reaction. Nanostructured systems are of great interest, both from a fundamental science perspective as technological applications. Currently, in general, any material that contains grain clusters, plates or filaments dimensions below 10 nm may be considered as nanostructured, as long as their properties differ from those of the extended solid. Such materials have been extensively studied in recent years because the small size of its primary building units (whether particles, grains or phases) and high surface/volume ratio resulting in mechanical, optical, electronic and magnetic individuals. The objective of the work is to evaluate the synthesized nanostructured materials, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) modified with metals, in the process of metane trireforming for production of synthesis gas. These materials are characterized concerning its structure and morphology by different techniques (TEM, DRX, TPR, TPD, Raman, etc) allowing a better understanding of the structural behavior of these materials before and after the catalytic process.The results of the catalytic tests was good regarding the selectivity of the synthesis gas and the methane conversion, justifying the importance in the study of these materials.