Impact of B2O3 loading on sulfur-resistant methanation activity of MoO3/CeO2-Al2O3 catalyst

Synthetic natural gas (SNG) production from coal is considered again due to rising prices for natural gas, the wish for less dependency from natural gas imports and the opportunity of reducing green house gases. The technical, economic and ecological feasibility of SNG with Mo-based catalysts showed water-gas shift and sulfur-resistant methanation has been studied. In this paper the impact of B2O3 loading on the MoO3/CeO2-Al2O3 catalysts for sulfur-resistant methanation was investigated. The catalysts were prepared by impregnation method and characterized by means of BET, XRD, TEM and NH3-TPD. The results showed that the sulfur-resistant methanation activity of MoO3/CeO2-Al2O3 catalysts were increased at first and then decreased as the increase of B2O3 loading. The catalyst adding 0.5% B2O3 showed the highest activity and the conversion of CO was 55%. The characterization results indicated that the addition of B2O3 had influences on the structure and surface acidity of catalysts and the dispersion of active components, which further impacted the activity of catalysts. Highcrystallization and enhancement of strong acid quantity were not beneficial to the sulfur-resistant methanation, while the high dispersion of active components was favorable to the improvement of the catalyst activity.