Reactivity and deactivation mechanisms of toluene reforming over waste peat char-supported Fe/Ni/Ca catalyst

•The toluene conversions are greater than 92.7% for peat char-supported catalysts.•A high mol% of H2 and CO is 94.7% over the Ni/peat char catalyst.•The catalysts show excellent selectivity for syngas (71.6%–94.7%).•The decrease in syngas mol% was less than 30% after 320 min.•Peat char can interact with metal to form FeC, FeSiO3, Ca2SiO4, NiSi and AlNi2Si. The pyrolysis char from waste peat with impregnated metal (Fe/Ni/Ca) were investigated for catalytic reforming of toluene in a laboratory dual-stage reactor. The prepared catalysts were examined in microstructure and textural characterization to analyze catalytic performance and stability. The results indicated that under the optimized conditions, the toluene conversions are greater than 92.7% for three types of peat char-supported catalysts, and the maximum molar ratio of syngas (CO + H2) can reach up to 94.7% using Ni/peat char catalyst. The promising results demonstrated that the H2 and CO are favored for Fe/peat char and Ni/peat char catalysts while the H2 and CH4 are favored for Ca/peat char catalyst. After 320 min of experiment, the mol% of syngas decreased by less than 30% for three types of peat char catalysts. Significantly, peat char (C-SiO2) as a carrier can enhance the performance of catalyst through interaction with the metal, and it can be used as an adsorption carrier to absorb unreacted toluene. Such peat char-supported catalysts are thus promising for tar conversion and useful syngas production.