Order-of-magnitude increase in rate of methane dry reforming over Ni/CeO2-SiC catalysts by microwave catalysis

Methane dry reforming (MDR) produces syngas from CH4 and CO2. The endothermic character of the reaction forces the lower surface catalyst temperature than targeted furnace temperature in thermal catalysis, which decreases carbon gasification ability and prones to deactivate catalyst. Increasing catalyst surface temperature is a way to enhance the gasification ability. In this work, we designed Ni/CeO2-SiC catalysts for MDR under microwave irradiation. The microwave adsorption by Ni and SiC increased the surface temperature of catalyst, significantly enhancing MDR performance and considerably reducing carbon deposition compared with those in thermal catalysis. CH4 and CO2 rates reached 16.5 mmol/(gNi·s) and 18.6 mmol/(gNi s), respectively, on the 1Ni/CeO2-SiC. The rates were one order-of-magnitude increased when be compared in literatures. Carbon deposits were as 1.4 wt% by microwave catalysis in comparison to 5.0 wt% by thermal catalysis on the used 1Ni/CeO2-SiC catalyst. The work explores a more effective microwave catalysis of Ni/CeO2-SiC catalyst for high-performance MDR.