Premium
Biogas Reforming for Hydrogen Production: A New Path to High‐Performance Nickel Catalysts Supported on Magnesium Aluminate Spinel
Author(s) -
Habibi Narges,
Wang Yuan,
Arandiyan Hamidreza,
Rezaei Mehran
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
chemcatchem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.497
H-Index - 106
eISSN - 1867-3899
pISSN - 1867-3880
DOI - 10.1002/cctc.201601084
Subject(s) - spinel , catalysis , materials science , mesoporous material , chemical engineering , calcination , carbon dioxide reforming , nanocrystalline material , nickel , hydrogen production , specific surface area , inorganic chemistry , syngas , metallurgy , chemistry , nanotechnology , organic chemistry , engineering
Abstract Highly dispersed Ni nanoparticles supported on high‐surface‐area mesoporous nanocrystalline MgAl 2 O 4 powder was generated by a facile and simple propylene oxide assisted gelation agent route. The mesoporous spinel materials exhibited enhanced catalytic performance for hydrogen production in biogas dry reforming. The obtained spinel catalysts with different Ni loadings after calcination at 700 °C possessed high BET surface areas (236–224 m 2 g −1 ). A narrow pore size distribution in the mesopore range was observed in the samples, and all the samples except 2.5 wt % Ni showed a mesoporous–macroporous structure. The 5 wt % Ni/MgAl 2 O 4 sample showed the highest activity for the biogas dry reforming reaction because of the high dispersion of Ni on the mesoporous surface of the spinel support. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that the catalysts with a low Ni loading undergo the exchange of Mg 2+ by Ni 2+ , whereas catalysts with a higher Ni loading undergo the substitution of Al 3+ by Ni 3+ . Thus, appropriate partial Ni substitution in the MgAl 2 O 4 support may play a role in the elevated catalytic performance.