Progresses in the Preparation of Coke Resistant Ni-based Catalyst for Steam and CO2 Reforming of Methane

Insight into C + O(OH) reaction for carbon elimination on different types of CoNi(111) surfaces: a DFT study

A density-functional theory (DFT) method has been performed to investigate the reaction of C + O(OH) on three types of bimetallic alloy CoNi(111) surface, and the obtained results are compared with those on the pure Ni(111) surface.

Solar thermal catalytic reforming of natural gas: a review on chemistry, catalysis and system design

Solar thermal catalytic reforming of natural gas is a promising route to increase the efficiency of fossil fuels utilization.

One-step synthesis of ordered mesoporous CoAl2O4 spinel-based metal oxides for CO2 reforming of CH4

Ordered mesoporous CoAl₂O₄ spinel-based metal oxides were facilely synthesized and utilized as the catalysts for CRM reactions.

A seed-engineering approach toward a hollow nanoreactor suitable for the confined synthesis of less-noble Ni-based nanocrystals

A hollow nanoreactor suitable for the cultivation of Ni-nanocrystals was developed through a distinct seed-engineering strategy, which involved the assembly of a catalytically active Au/Pd-heterojunction-nanocrystal inside the hollow silica nanoshell.

Simultaneous tuning porosity and basicity of nickel@nickel-magnesium phyllosilicate core-shell catalysts for CO₂ reforming of CH₄

Ni@Ni-Mgphy (Ni-Mgphy = Ni-Mg phyllosilicate) core-shell catalysts were designed by hydrothermally treating Ni@SiO2 nanoparticles with magnesium nitrate salt. The porosity and basicity of the catalysts were easily tuned by forming Ni-Mgphy shell using Ni originating from Ni@SiO2 during the hydrothermal treatment process and Mg(NO3)2 as the Ni and Mg sources, respectively. Among Ni@Ni-Mgphy core-shell catalysts synthesized under different hydrothermal durations, the catalyst treated for 10 h achieved the best catalytic performance for CO2 reforming of CH4 reaction with stable CO2 and CH4 conversions of around 81% and 78%, respectively, within 95 h reaction duration at 700 °C. The high Ni accessibility, strong basicity, and high structural stability for Ni@Ni-Mgphy core-shell catalyst with 10 h treatment time accounted for its superb catalytic performance. This method to simultaneously tune the porosity and basicity of Ni@SiO2 core-shell nanoparticles demonstrates a general way to modify the properties of other silica based core-shell nanoparticles through treating them with different metal salts.

Highly coke-resistant ni nanoparticle catalysts with minimal sintering in dry reforming of methane

Nickel catalysts are typically used for hydrogen production by reforming reactions. Reforming methane with carbon dioxide, called dry reforming of methane (DRM), is a good way to produce hydrogen or syngas (a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide) from two notable greenhouse gases. However, Ni catalysts used for DRM suffer from severe coke deposition. It has been known that small Ni nanoparticles are advantageous to reduce coke formation, but the high reaction temperature of DRM (800 °C) inevitably induces aggregation of the nanoparticles, leading to severe coke formation and degraded activity. Here, we develop highly coke-resistant Ni catalysts by immobilizing premade Ni nanoparticles of 5.2 nm in size onto functionalized silica supports, and then coating the Ni/SiO2 catalyst with silica overlayers. The silica overlayers enable the transfer of reactants and products while preventing aggregation of the Ni nanoparticles. The silica-coated Ni catalysts operate stably for 170 h without any degradation in activity. No carbon deposition was observed by temperature programmed oxidation (TPO), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy. The Ni catalysts without silica coating show severe sintering after DRM reaction, and the formation of filamentous carbon was observed. The coke-resistant Ni catalyst is potentially useful in various hydrocarbon transformations.

Efficient and robust reforming catalyst in severe reaction conditions by nanoprecursor reduction in confined space

The in situ autocombustion synthesis route is shown to be an easy and efficient way to produce nanoscaled nickel oxide containing lanthanum-doped mesoporous silica composite. Through this approach, ~3 nm NiO particles homogeneously dispersed in the pores of silica are obtained, while lanthanum is observed to cover the surface of the silica pore wall. Subsequent reduction of such composite precursors under hydrogen generates Ni(0) nanoparticles of a comparable size. Control over the size and size distribution of metallic nanoparticles clearly improved catalytic activity in the methane dry reforming reaction. In addition, these composite materials exhibit excellent stability under severe reaction conditions. This was achieved through the presence of LaOx species, which reduced active-site carbon poisoning, and the confinement effect of the mesoporous support, which reduced metallic particle sintering.

Design of modular catalysts derived from NiMgAl-LDH@m-SiO2 with dual confinement effects for dry reforming of methane

The modular catalysts were fabricated via the combination of the Ni-MgO-Al2O3 mixed oxide nanoplates and the mesoporous SiO2 coating. Due to the dual confinements, the catalysts show high catalytic activity with enhanced coke- and sintering-resistance in the dry reforming of methane reaction.

Overcoming carbon deactivation in biogas reforming using a hydrothermally synthesised nickel perovskite catalyst

A hydrothermally synthesised nickel-doped perovskite catalyst is demonstrated to have excellent selectivity for biogas reforming without suffering from deactivation by carbon formation.

Significant roles of mesostructure and basic modifier for ordered mesoporous Ni/CaO–Al2O3 catalyst towards CO2 reforming of CH4

The significant roles of mesostructure and basic modifier in improving the catalytic performance of dry reforming were investigated.

Immobilizing Ni nanoparticles to mesoporous silica with size and location control via a polyol-assisted route for coking- and sintering-resistant dry reforming of methane

Highly dispersed Ni nanoparticles in mesoporous silica were achieved via using polyol as new delivery conveyors and removable carbon templates.

Oxidative methane reforming with an intelligent catalyst: sintering-tolerant supported nickel nanoparticles

Smart Catalyst: The cyclical diffusion of nanometer-sized nickel clusters into and out of the perovskite structure under elevated temperature and reducing and oxidizing atmosphere could in situ redeliver and redisperse Ni, thereby reinforcing the anti-coking and -sintering of Ni during oxidative reforming of CH4 .

High-temperature-stable and regenerable catalysts: platinum nanoparticles in aligned mesoporous silica wells

We report the synthesis, structural characterization, thermal stability study, and regeneration of nanostructured catalysts made of 2.9 nm Pt nanoparticles sandwiched between a 180 nm SiO2 core and a mesoporous SiO2 shell. The SiO2 shell consists of 2.5 nm channels that are aligned perpendicular to the surface of the SiO2 core. The nanostructure mimics Pt nanoparticles that sit in mesoporous SiO2 wells (Pt@MSWs). By using synchrotron-based small-angle X-ray scattering, we were able to prove the ordered structure of the aligned mesoporous shell. By using high-temperature cyclohexane dehydrogenation as a model reaction, we found that the Pt@MSWs of different well depths showed stable activity at 500 °C after the induction period. Conversely, a control catalyst, SiO2 -sphere-supported Pt nanoparticles without a mesoporous SiO2 shell (Pt/SiO2 ), was deactivated. We deliberately deactivated the Pt@MSWs catalyst with a 50 nm deep well by using carbon deposition induced by a low H2 /cyclohexane ratio. The deactivated Pt@MSWs catalyst was regenerated by calcination at 500 °C with 20 % O2 balanced with He. After the regeneration treatments, the activity of the Pt@MSWs catalyst was fully restored. Our results suggest that the nanostructured catalysts-Pt nanoparticles confined inside mesoporous SiO2 wells-are stable and regenerable for treatments and reactions that require high temperatures.

An introduction of CO₂ conversion by dry reforming with methane and new route of low-temperature methanol synthesis

Carbon dioxide is one of the highest contributors to the greenhouse effect, as well as a cheap and nontoxic building block for single carbon source chemistry. As such, CO₂ conversion is one of most important research areas in energy and environment sciences, as well as in catalysis technology. For chemical conversion of CO₂, natural gas (mainly CH₄) is a promising counterpart molecule to the CO₂-related reaction, due to its high availability and low price. More importantly, being able to convert CH₄ to useful fuels and molecules is advantageous, because it is also a kind of "greenhouse effect" gas, and can be an energy alternative to petroleum oil. In this Account, we discuss our development of efficient catalysts with precisely designed nanostructure for CO₂ reforming of CH₄ to produce syngas (mixture of CO and H₂), which can then be converted to many chemicals and energy products. This new production flow can establish a GTL (gas-to-liquid) industry, being currently pushed by the shale gas revolution. From the viewpoint of GTL industry, developing a catalyst for CO₂ reforming of CH₄ is a challenge, because they need a very high production rate to make the huge GTL methane reformer as small as possible. In addition, since both CO₂ and CH₄ give off carbon deposits that deactivate non-precious metallic catalysts very quickly, the total design of catalyst support and supported metallic nanoparticles is necessary. We present a simple but useful method to prepare bimodal catalyst support, where small pores are formed inside large ones during the self-organization of nanoparticles from solution. Large pores enhance the mass transfer rate, while small pores provide large surface areas to disperse active metallic nanoparticles. More importantly, building materials for small pores can also be used as promoters or cocatalysts to further enhance the total activity and stability. Produced syngas from methane reforming is generally catalytically converted in situ via one of two main routes. The first is to use Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS), a process that catalytically converts syngas to hydrocarbons of varying molecular weights. The second is methanol synthesis. The latter has better atomic economy, since the oxygen atom in CO is included in the product and CO₂ can be blended into syngas as a reactant. However, production of methanol is very inefficient in this reaction: only 10-15% one-pass conversion typically at 5.0-10.0 MPa and 523-573 K, due to the severe thermodynamic limitations of this exothermal reaction (CO + 2H₂ = CH₃OH). In this Account, we propose and develop a new route of low-temperature methanol synthesis from CO₂-containing syngas only by adding alcohols, including methanol itself. These alcohols act as homogeneous cocatalysts and the solvent, realizing 70-100% one-pass conversion at only 5.0 MPa and 443 K. The key step is the reaction of the adsorbed formate species with alcohols to yield ester species at low temperatures, followed by the hydrogenation of ester by hydrogen atoms on metallic Cu. This changes the normal reaction path of conventional, high-temperature methanol synthesis from formate via methoxy to methanol.