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CO 2 methanation over Ni and Rh based catalysts: Process optimization at moderate temperature
Author(s) -
Younas Muhammad,
Sethupathi Sumathi,
Kong Leong Loong,
Mohamed Abdul Rahman
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
international journal of energy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.808
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1099-114X
pISSN - 0363-907X
DOI - 10.1002/er.4082
Subject(s) - methanation , catalysis , rhodium , chemistry , selectivity , inorganic chemistry , response surface methodology , nickel , chemical engineering , materials science , organic chemistry , chromatography , engineering
Summary H 2 was produced from aluminum/water reaction and reacted with CO 2 over Ni and Rh based catalysts to optimize the process conditions for CO 2 methanation at moderate temperature. Monometallic catalysts were prepared by incorporating Ni and Rh using nickel nitrate hexahydrate (Ni(NO 3 ) 2 ·6H 2 O) and rhodium(III) chloride trihydrate (RhCl 3 ·3H 2 O)as a precursor chemical. The preliminary study of the catalysts revealed higher activity and CH 4 selectivity for Rh based catalyst compared to that of Ni based catalyst. Further, Rh based catalyst was investigated using response surface methodology (RSM) involving central composite design. The quadratic model was employed to correlate the effects of variable parameters including methanation temperature, %humidity, and catalyst weight with the %CO 2 conversion, %CH 4 selectivity, and CH 4 production capacity. Analysis of variance revealed that methanation temperature and humidity play an important role in CO 2 methanation. Higher response values of CO 2 conversion (54.4%), CH 4 selectivity (73.5%) and CH 4 production capacity (8.4 μmol g −1 min −1 ) were noted at optimum conditions of 206.7°C of methanation temperature, 12.5% humidity and 100 mg of the catalyst. The results demonstrated the ability of Rh catalyst supported on palm shell activated carbon (PSAC) for CO 2 methanation at low temperature and atmospheric pressure.