Effect of calcination temperature on Ni/γ-Al₂O₃ reduction and catalytic steam reforming of toluene

The influence of calcination temperature on Ni/γ-Al₂O₃ reducing conditions and catalytic steam reforming of toluene was studied. The results indicate that the catalyst calcined at 700 ℃ showed good catalytic performance at reaction temperature of 680 ℃ and maintained a high catalytic activity, stability without pre-reduction and 99% of toluene conversion was obtained under optimum conditions. The catalysts were also characterized by BET, XRD, TG-DTG and other techniques before and after reaction. As the calcination temperature was raised, the interaction between nickel and carrier was gradually enhanced, surface area and total pore volume decreased, and amount of NiAl₂O₄ in the catalyst increased. These are considered the main reasons for the effect of calcination temperature on the catalyst reduction conditions. Finally, the structure of the catalyst calcined at 700 ℃ is further analyzed using TEM, XPS.