Carbon Dioxide Reforming of Methane on Supported Nickel Catalysts

The reforming of CH4 with CO2 using various Ni catalysts has been investigated. As a result of screening tests, the selection of supports was found to be very important to control the catalytic activity of Ni. Among the various supports, ceramic foam and Al2O3 supports incorporating industrial steam reforming catalysts showed higher activities than SiO2 supports. The kinetic study has shown that the results could be expressed by a simple power-law equation for the three activated catalysts. The effect of the support was also studied. The results showed the importance of the acid-base property of the catalyst.