Methane reforming with carbon dioxide over the perovskite supported Ni catalysts

A series of MTiO₃ (M=Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba) supported Ni catalysts (with a Ni loading of 5%) for methane reforming with carbon dioxide (DRM) were prepared by the impregnation method. The Ni/MTiO₃ catalysts were characterized by XRD, N₂ sorption, H₂-TPR, CO₂-TPD, XPS and TG; the effect of alkaline earth metals (M) on the catalytic performance of Ni/MTiO₃ in the DRM was then investigated. The results indicate that the metal-support interaction, the surface Ni atomic concentration and the mobility of lattice oxygen species on the Ni/MTiO₃ catalysts are related to the alkaline earth metal M used in the MTiO₃ supports. The Ni/CaTiO₃ catalyst shows superior performance in DRM to other catalysts, which is ascribed to the strong metal-support interaction, large amount of reduced active Ni and relatively high mobility of lattice oxygen species. In contrast, the SrTiO₃ support has a relatively large particle size, leading to poor Ni dispersion on the Ni/SrTiO₃ catalyst as well as weak metal-support interaction, low lattice oxygen mobility, and less surface active Ni atoms; as a result, the Ni/SrTiO₃ catalyst exhibits relatively poor performance in DRM.