(544fm) A Comparative Study of Nickel Impregnated Zrtialox Catalysts for Hydrogen Gas Production Via Reforming of Methane

Increasing demand of energy based on the growing population and rapid depletion of fossil fuels had emerged utilization of renewable and clean fuels critically. In this regard hydrogen as an abundant and environmental friendly energy carrier can play a crucial role for fossil fuel replacement. In the hydrogen economy, considering more clean technologies for the hydrogen production is very important. Reforming of methane is well known as the process for the production of hydrogen. However, carbon formation is a serious obstacle against catalytic activity and stability. The TiZrO₂-Al₂O₃ catalysts with molar ratio of Ti/Zr (1 to 4) have been prepared by modified Pechini sol-gel method. Ni/ZrAlOx and Ni/TiAlOx catalysts were also synthesized with the same method for the comparison.

The catalytic performance tests for the steam and dry reforming of methane were conducted at 600℃ and atmospheric pressure with GHSV = 25,000 h^-1 in a fixed bed reactor. The prepared catalysts before and after the reaction were studied by several characterization techniques such as N₂ physisorption, XRD, CO₂-TPD, DR-TPSR with MS, TGA, TPH and TPR. It was observed that the nickel based catalyst supported on the Ti modified ZrO₂-Al₂O₃ showed higher catalytic stability rather than Ni/ZrO₂-Al₂O₃ catalyst. These result can interpreted that the Ti supported on ZrO₂-Al₂O₃ plays important role in the reduced the big ensemble, and suppress the coke formation at lower temperature.