CO and CO2 Methanation Over Supported Cobalt Catalysts

CO and CO2 methanation was investigated over cobalt catalysts supported on different supports such as gamma-Al2O3, SiO2, TiO2, CeO2, and ZrO2. Among them, the cobalt catalyst supported on the high-surface-area CeO2 was determined to be the most active for both CO and CO2 methanation. These catalytic activities increased with increasing surface area of CeO2. To increase the specific catalytic activity for CO and CO2 methanation, various Co-CeO2 catalysts with different cobalt contents were prepared with co-precipitation method. The optimum cobalt content was determined for both reactions. The prepared catalysts were characterized with N-2 physisorption, temperature-programmed reduction with H-2, pulsed-chemisorption of CO2, temperature-programmed desorption of CO2, and X-ray diffraction. The high cobalt dispersion and strong CO2 adsorption appeared to be responsible for the high catalytic activity for CO and CO2 methanation, respectively. This Co-CeO2 also showed the stable catalytic activity even after an exposure to high-temperature reaction conditions.