Catalytic reforming of methane by carbon dioxide over nickel-exchanged zeolite catalysts

A series of nickel-exchanged catalysts based on ZSM-5, USY, and Mordenite zeolites has been prepared by the ionic exchange method. The NiZeol catalysts have been characterized by XRD and BET. The exchange levels and nickel contents of the catalysts have been determined by chemical analysis. The acidity of the zeolite supports has been investigated using NH3 adsorption microcalorimetry. The number of acidic sites was found to decrease according to the following sequence: HUSY > HZSM-5 > HMOR. The temperature programmed reduction studies showed that the most reducible catalyst is NiZSM-5. The Ni-exchanged zeolites presented good catalytic performance in the methane reforming by CO2. At a temperature of 650 degrees C, CH4 conversions of 71 and 54% were achieved on NiUSY and NiZSM-5 respectively. At 400 degrees C, CO2 FTIR adsorption has shown that CO2 decomposes into CO and oxygen on NiZSM-5 which explains its reactivity at such a low temperature, while no decomposition of this probe molecule was observed on the NiUSY catalyst. The catalytic performance was found to vary in the following sequence at 650 degrees C: NiUSY > NiZSM-5 > NiMOR. Moreover, the catalytic performances were found to depend strongly on the CO2/CH4 ratio in the feed and were markedly improved for CO2/CH4 greater than 1.