Dry Reforming of Shale Gas and Carbon Dioxide with Ni-Ce-Al2O3 Catalyst: Syngas Production Enhanced over Ni-CeOx Formation

The dry reforming of shale gas (methane and ethane with an average ratio of 4:1) with carbon dioxide (DRS) is considered to be a promising way to produce syngas, which widens the utilization of shale gas and mitigates carbon dioxide emission. In this paper, Ce modified Ni-based catalysts were developed and the corresponding catalytic performances for DRS were investigated with a fixed bed reactor. Results showed that the catalyst containing 5wt% of Ni and 5wt% of Ce performed a best catalytic effect, including the selectivity of syngas and the carbon resistance performance, which is due to the good metal dispersion, strong interaction between Ni and Ce, and the formation of Ni-CeOx solid solution. The electron transfer between Ni and Ce, substitution of Ni for Ce, and the sequential oxygen vacancies or defects, play significant roles in activating CH4, C2H6 and CO2. The conversion of reactant gas increased with temperature, while the selectivity of syngas is little affected with temperature. In addition, the desired catalyst containing 5wt% of Ni and 5wt% of Ce showed good stability in the long-time operation, which indicates that the Ce modified Ni-based catalyst is a promising one for the dry reforming of shale gas.