Ali Obeydavi - Department of Materials Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan ۸۴۱۵۶-۸۳۱۱۱, Iran.
Hassan Shafyei - Foulad institute of technology assistant professor
Abdollah Tayyebi - Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Behbahan Khatam Alanbia University of Technology, Iran.

Nickel-based catalysts have been widely used in the important reaction for producing hydrogen and synthesis gas from methane reforming processes, which use for producing of steel. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the sol-gel method approach on the synthesis of NiO/MgAl۲O۴ nano catalysts through the modified sol-gel and sol-gel citrate methods. Powders are characterized using XRD, SEM-EDS, TEM, and BET-BJH. The results showed that the use of two different sol-gel approaches caused changes in microstructural properties. Nano catalysts prepared by the modified sol-gel method had smaller crystalline size, smaller particle size, larger porosity and larger specific surface area than the prepared nano catalysts by the sol-gel citrate method. The shape of the nano catalyst particles prepared by the two sol-gel methods was spherical, except that the shape and size of the particles were more homogeneous in the prepared nano catalyst by the modified sol-gel method.

Modified sol-gel method, Sol-gel citrate, Microstructural, Nano catalyst, NiO/MgAl۲O۴