Preparation and characterization of ultrasound-assisted co-precipitated nanocrystalline La-, Ce-, Zr -promoted Ni-Al2O3 catalysts for dry reforming reaction

Mesoporous nanocrystalline 25 wt.% Ni-M-Al2O3 (M = CeO2, La2O3, and ZrO2) powders were synthesized by the ultrasonic assisted co-precipitation method and employed in methane dry reforming. The results exhibited that the addition of 5 wt.% La2O3 and ZrO2 increased the surface area and the incorporation of the same content of CeO2 had a vice versa effect. The TPO analysis showed that the amount of deposited carbon was lower than that deposited on the surface of the unmodified catalyst. It was observed that the incorporation of promoters decreased the catalytic activity and among all the promoted catalysts, Ce-promoted sample was more effective in dry reforming reaction with a low degree of carbon formation.