Ni Catalysts Supported on Mesoporous Nanocrystalline Magnesium Silicate in Dry and Steam Reforming Reactions

Mesoporous nanocrystalline MgSiO3 with high surface area was synthesized by a hydrothermal method and employed as support in dry and steam reforming of methane. Ni/MgSiO3 catalysts were prepared by an impregnation method and characterized by different techniques. N-2 adsorption analysis indicated that addition of nickel shifted the pore size distributions to smaller sizes. Temperature-programmed reduction analysis revealed that a higher nickel loading enhanced the reducibility of the catalyst. The catalytic performance was improved with increasing the nickel content. The Ni/MgSiO3 catalyst exhibited high stability in dry reforming but methane conversion declined with time-on-stream in the steam reforming reaction. Temperature-programmed oxidation profiles of spent catalysts indicated that the high amount of carbon deposited on the catalyst surface in dry and steam reforming was assigned to whisker-type carbon.