High carbon-resistance Ni/CeAlO₃-Al₂O₃ catalyst for CH₄/CO₂ reforming

High carbon-resistance Ni/Ce-AlO catalysts have been developed for dry reforming of methane (DRM) that is attracting growing attention for chemical recycling of CO₂ to fuels/chemicals. Cerium is definitely identified to exist in the form of CeAlO₃ phase after reduction at 900°C, and so is it under running conditions. The formation of CeAlO₃ phase significantly enhances the catalyst carbon-resistance without decreasing the activity. Whereas the catalysts with or without CeAlO₃ all show good activity maintenance within 250h testing at 800°C using 20,000mLh^-1g_cat^-1, their carbon deposition amounts exhibit significant decrease from 0.92 to 0.29gg_cat^-1 along with the increase of the CeAlO₃ phase. The presence of CeAlO₃ can inhibit growth of graphitic carbon on nickel surface while the formation of amorphous carbon is independent of the CeAlO₃. The CeAlO₃ species shows ability for decomposing CO₂ to form active surface oxygen and therefore the carbon-resistance promotion by nature is suggested to be contributed to an oxidative environment around Ni particles.