Physico-chemical properties and syngas production via dry reforming of methane over NiAl2O4 catalyst

Nano-particles of NiAl2O4 were prepared by co-precipitation and their bulk and surface were characterized by XRD, Raman spectroscopy, N2-adsorption-desorption analysis, SEM-EDS and XPS. The reducibility was studied by TPR and HTXRD techniques under H2 atmosphere. The synthetized catalyst was made of NiAl2O4 spinel oxide as main phase and of NiO (10%) free oxide. Interestingly, it was shown that the surface was richer in Al species. The catalytic performances in methane dry reforming were evaluated without H2-pretreatment of catalyst. A very high activity was observed with conversion of methane and CO2 at 750 °C of 84 and 90 mol%, respectively and high H2/CO ratio. The amount of coke deposited during the reaction on this spinel was ∼3.6%. The physico-chemical properties of the catalyst on their behavior in the dry reforming of methane are discussed.