Integration of magnetically stabilized bed and amorphous nickel alloy catalyst for CO methanation

A novel process for the methanation of CO, involving an amorphous nickel alloy (ANA) catalyst incorporated in a magnetically stabilized bed (MSB), has been developed. The effects of varying the operating conditions on the reaction yield and catalyst lifetime have been investigated. The new process was shown to be markedly superior to existing processes for CO methanation in that the concentration of CO in an H-2-rich gas mixture could be reduced from 2000 ppm to less than 1 ppm at a temperature of 433 K, a pressure of 3.0 MPa, a gas hourly space velocity of 50, 000 h(-1), and a magnetic field intensity of 40 kA/m. Compared with conventional fixed bed processes, the operating temperature of the ANA/MSB process can be decreased by about 100 K and the gas velocity can be increased by a factor of 5-10. In durability tests, the ANA catalyst does not undergo any significant structural change and retains its initial high activity. These preliminary results indicate that the novel process has good prospects for application in the petrochemical industry. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.