Enhanced dry methane reforming over Ru decorated mesoporous silica and its kinetic study

Ru with variable loadings (0.5-2 wt.%) in nanoparticle form, were deposited over ceria, magnesia modified mesoporous silica by single step synthesis followed by urea hydrolysis of the metal precursor. The obtained materials were tested for methane reforming with CO2 (DRM). The catalysts were substantially exposed to different characterisation techniques both before and after the reaction to get an insight into the structure-activity relationship. Characterisation results and activity study confirmed, homogeneous dispersion of nanosized ruthenium particles over a high surface area of modified silica possess strong metal support interaction, which restricts metal sintering and enables coke free CO2 reforming of methane (DRM). Introduction of ceria and magnesia strongly enhanced the surface oxygen storage capacity (OSC) that readily oxidise the deposited coke over the active metal during the activity analysis. An in-detailed study was carried out to evaluate the effect of reaction parameters and long-term activity analysis on the material. The catalyst systems with lower Ru loading performs a better activity in comparison to higher loading. At a higher Ruthenium loading, the metal particle size gets increase and remains mainly over the surface rather than in the pores which enhances the rate of coke deposition and hence decreases the catalyst activity.