Kinetic analysis of rate data for dry reforming of methane

The kinetics of the CO2 reforming of methane was investigated on a Ni-Rh-Al2O3 catalyst. Twenty-seven mechanistic models were considered and fitted to the experimental data by numerically integrating the rate equation of the dry reforming of methane reaction. A thermodynamic analysis showed that the reverse water gas shift reaction operates in or very close to thermodynamic equilibrium. A strategy of model discrimination and parameter estimation led to a model that considers CO2 molecular adsorption, CH4 dissociative adsorption, and its surface chemical reaction as the rate-determining step. The parameter estimates in the resulting model are statistically significant and thermodynamically consistent.