Key properties of Ni/CeAlO3-Al2O3/SiC-foam catalysts for biogas reforming: Enhanced stability and CO2 activation

[Display omitted] •Catalyst showed excellent activity and long-term stability (400 h).•SiC-foam has excellent thermal conductivity that resists cold-spots formation.•Ni/CeAlO3-Al2O3/SiC-foam has remarkable resistance to Ni sintering.•CeAlO3 active CO2 to inhibit growth of carbon. The efficient conversion of renewable biogas has attracted ever-increasing interest in past decades. Ni-CeO2-Al2O3 supported on monolithic SiC-foam (denoted as Ni/CeO2-Al2O3/SCF) is designed and applied in biogas reforming. The monolithic Ni/CeO2-Al2O3/SCF catalysts were deeply characterized by XRD, ICP-AES, SEM, HR-TEM, CO2-TPD, etc. The cycle between CeO2-Al2O3 and CeAlO3 was verified by in-situ CH4/CO2-TPSR, and the catalytic role of CeAlO3 in coke elimination and CO2 activation was further confirmed. Due to the uniform distribution of Ni nanoparticles (NPS) and the activation of CO2 by CeAlO3, Ni/CeAlO3-Al2O3/SCF shows excellent catalytic stability to inhibit sintering and eliminate carbon deposition. At 900 °C and a gas hourly space velocity (GSHV) of 24000 mL gCat-1h−1, excellent CH4/CO2 conversion of 86/99% are initially achieved over Ni/CeAlO3-Al2O3/SCF catalyst, followed by slight decrease after 140 h, and remain basically stable for the next 260 h.