CO₂ methanation on the catalyst of Ni/MCM-41 promoted with CeO₂

CO₂ as a raw feed combined with renewable hydrogen for the production of useful chemicals and alternative energy products is one of the solutions to environmental and energy problems. In this study, a series of Ni-xCeO₂/MCM-41 catalysts with a nickel content of 20wt% were prepared through deposition precipitation method for CO₂ methanation. Different characterization methods, including BET, XRD, TEM, SEM, H₂-TPR and H₂-TPD were applied to help explore the influence mechanism of CeO₂ on Ni/MCM-41 in CO₂ methanation. It was found that all CeO₂-promoted catalysts exhibited enhanced catalytic activity when compared to Ni/MCM-41. The catalyst modified with 20wt% CeO₂ showed the best catalytic performance, with CO₂ conversion and CH₄ selectivity of 85.6% and 99.8%, respectively, at the temperature of 380°C under atmospheric pressure. The synergetic effects among Ni⁰ active sites, the promoter and the support, including nickel dispersion improvement and increased CO₂ adsorption sites due to the addition of CeO₂, were considered as important factors for high reactivity of the promoted catalysts. The stability test showed that the promoted catalyst maintained its high reactivity after 30h.