CO2 reforming of CH4 over CeO2-doped Ni/Al2O3 nanocatalyst treated by non-thermal plasma

Ni/Al2O3 and Ni/Al2O3-CeO2 nanocatalysts have been prepared with impregnation method, treated with non-thermal plasma, characterized and tested for dry reforming of methane. For catalyst characterization, the following techniques have been used: XRD, FESEM, TEM, EDX dot mapping, BET, FTIR, TG-DTG, and XPS techniques. According to XRD and XPS, Ni in all catalysts exists as NiO and NiAl2O4 that existence of NiAl2O4 reveals strong interaction between active phase and support. Catalyst particles had smaller average particle size in plasma treated Ni/Al2O3-CeO2 nanocatalyst with less agglomeration. Homogenous dispersion of active phase, narrower particle size distribution, and uniform morphology has been observed in ceria containing plasma treated catalyst. The plasma treated Ni/Al2O3-CeO2 nanocatalyst showed bigger NiAl2O4/NiO ratio in XPS analysis that is indicative of stronger interaction between Ni and Al2O3 in the presence of CeO2. The dry reforming of methane was carried out at 550-850 degrees C using a mixture of CH4:CO2 (0.5:2). Improved morphology of the plasma treated Ni/Al2O3-CeO2 nanocatalyst, resulted from both CeO2 and plasma treatment, caused higher ability of catalyst in H2 and CO production. Product yield decreased at higher GHSVs, due to the fact that mass transport limitations will be more severe at low residence time, but this reduction would be less noticeable in the plasma treated Ni/Al2O3-CeO2 nanocatalyst. In addition, the plasma treated Ni/Al2O3-CeO2 nanocatalyst can keep the reactivity without deactivation for either CH4 or CO2 conversion better than other investigated catalysts.