Catalytic performance of ceria-supported cobalt catalyst for CO-rich hydrogen production from dry reforming of methane

Dry reforming of methane was studied over ceria-supported cobalt (20wt%) catalyst prepared via wet-impregnation method. The synthesized catalyst was characterized using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), N-2 physisorption and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The catalytic methane dry reforming was carried out over the 20wt%Co/80wt%CeO2 catalyst in a fixed-bed reactor. The experiment was performed at atmospheric condition with time-on-stream (TOS) of 4 h, reaction temperatures of 923-1023 K, and CH4:CO2 feed ratios of 0.1-1.0. The XRD pattern showed good dispersion of the cobalt metal on the support. This was corroborated by the FESEM-EDX and FTIR spectrum. The N-2 physisorption revealed that the BET specific surface area of the calcined catalyst was more than double the ceria support. The conversions of CH4 and CO2, respectively, as well as the H-2 and CO yield, were found to increase with reaction temperature and CH4:CO2 feed ratios. The highest conversions for both CO2 and CH4 were 87.6% and 79.5%, respectively, at 1023 K. Moreover, highest yield of 40% was obtained for CO while that of H-2 was 37.6%. Syngas ratio of 0.99 was obtained at a feed ratio of 0.9, which has further cemented the suitability of methane dry reforming over ceria-supported cobalt catalyst for production of syngas meant for Fischer Tropsch synthesis. (C) Copyright 2015, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.