MAHMOOD ANDACHE - Department Of Chemistry, Islamic Azad University, Omidiye Unit, Omidiye, Iran.
MEHRAN REZAEI - Catalyst and Advanced Materials Research Laboratory, Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran. Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran.

The conversion of methane to valuable chemicals is very important. In the past decades, the most studied technology for syngas production was steam-methane reforming (SMR), in which methane reacts with steam to produce a mixture of hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide. In order to obtain acceptable reaction rates a catalyst is required to accelerate the process. In this study, Ni catalysts supported on nanocrystalline magnesium oxide with high surface area and various Ni loadings (7, 10 wt.%) have been employed in steam reforming of methane (SMR) and the effect of Ni loadings on the catalytic activity is investigated. The preparation of MgO via surfactant-assisted precipitation method led to the formation of a nanocrystalline carrier for nickel catalysts. The synthesized samples were characterized by XRD, N2 adsorption-desorption, and TPR techniques. The results showed that the prepared catalyst with 7% Ni loading showed high activity and good stability in steam reforming reaction. It could be attributed to high dispersion of reduced Ni species and basicity of support surface. However, if the Ni content is higher than 7 wt.%, there is a negative effect on the catalytic activity of SRM over reduced Ni/MgO catalyst.

Ni/Mgo catalyst; steam reforming; surfactant-assisted precipitation method