Enhanced low-temperature CO/CO2 methanation performance of Ni/Al2O3 microspheres prepared by the spray drying method combined with high shear mixer-assisted coprecipitation

[Display omitted] •Porous Ni/Al2O3 microspheres were successfully prepared.•Ni/Al2O3 exhibited high Ni dispersion and small Ni nanoparticles.•Ni/Al2O3 showed stronger metal-support interaction.•Ni/Al2O3 presented enhanced CO adsorption capacity.•Ni/Al2O3 provided excellent CO methanation activity at low temperature. Ni/Al2O3 spherical catalysts were prepared by high shear mixer (HSM)-assisted coprecipitation (CP) and spray drying (SD) method for carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2) methanation. The effect of HSM technology on low-temperature methanation performance was studied. Ni/Al2O3 (HSM-CP-SD) catalysts provide excellent performance such as CO conversion of 100% and CH4 selectivity of 90% at 300 °C; the CO2 conversion was 86.2% and CH4 selectivity was 95.3% at 350 °C. Even at 200 °C, the catalyst prepared by HSM still offers a CO conversion of 90% and CH4 selectivity of 82%, whereas the Ni/Al2O3 (CP-SD) has no activity. The high performance was attributed to the small Ni nanoparticles and high dispersion. The Ni/Al2O3 (HSM-CP-SD) catalysts exhibit micro-spherical morphology with a big pore size of 3.46 nm, stronger metal-support interactions, and CO adsorption capacity. The catalyst prepared by HSM shows potential application for CO/CO2 methanation, and HSM technology can optimize other heterogeneous catalytic reactions.