Hydrogen production from biomass gasification on nickel catalysts - Tests for dry reforming of methane

Ni-olivine catalyst used for increasing hydrogen production in fluidised bed biomass gasification has been optimised. Performance of the system in methane dry reforming has been studied as a function of nickel content, precursor salt, and calcination temperature. The optimised catalyst was prepared from nickel nitrate and contained more than 5 wt.% of nickel oxide on olivine after calcination at 1100degreesC. Ni-support initial interactions were studied by means of XRD, SEM, TEM-EDXS and TPR. Nickel oxide is strongly linked to olivine, in form of grafts and is still reducible under catalytic test. With a CH4/CO2 ratio of 1, methane conversion and hydrogen yield were 95% after 80 h of test at 800 degreesC. Very good stability of this catalyst during ageing can be explained by absence of nickel particles sintering and very low carbon content observed after catalytic tests. This catalyst meets all the requirements of activity, stability and attrition resistance for use in the fluidised bed biomass gasification process. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.