Catalytic performance of Ni-based ceria-zirconia catalysts for hydrogen production: effect of Ni loading method

Abstract

Nickel supported on Ceria-Zirconia mixed oxide catalysts utilizing in catalytic partial oxidation of methane (CPOM) are drastically deactivated by carbon formation. Improving Ni dispersion by acquiring the preparation of small metallic particles on the support has been proposed to reduce coke formation thus increasing the catalytic activity and stability of catalysts. In this study, CeO₂-ZrO₂ support was prepared by urea hydrolysis with 5, 10, 15 and 25 wt%Ni incorporation using both the polyol mediated and impregnation methods. The catalysts were characterized by several techniques. The CPOM was conducted using a fixed bed reactor to measure. The results showed that nickel of 15 wt% would be an appropriate loading amount in terms of catalytic activity regardless of catalyst preparation methods. However, in terms of catalyst stability the catalyst synthesized by the polyol mediated method provided superior performance on coke resistance.