Catalytic activity of SBA-15 supported Ni catalyst in CH4 dry reforming: Effect of Al, Zr, and Ti co-impregnation and Al incorporation to SBA-15

In this study, the catalytic activity of the mesoporous SBA-15 supported Ni–Al, Ni–Zr, and Ni–Ti catalysts prepared by an impregnation method were investigated in dry reforming of methane. In addition, Al incorporated SBA-15 (Al–SBA-15) materials used as catalyst support were synthesized following a one-pot hydrothermal route in three different conditions: synthesis in the presence of only HCl, only NaCl, and both HCl and NaCl (denoted as A, S, and B, respectively). All catalysts were characterized by XRD, N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms, ICP-OES, DRIFTS, SEM, TEM-EDX and TGA techniques before and/or after reaction tests. Among Al, Zr, and Ti impregnated catalysts, Ni–Al impregnated catalyst showed the highest activity in dry reforming of methane. According to activity test results, Al–SBA-15 supported Ni catalyst prepared by the one-pot hydrothermal route in the presence of both HCl and NaCl showed the best catalytic activity with high methane (81%) and carbon dioxide conversion (88%) values at 750 °C. The highest H2 and CO selectivity values were obtained with the same catalyst with an H2/CO molar ratio of 0.80. Therefore, these results showed that partial Al (0.11%) incorporated into the structure of SBA-15 was sufficient to improve the catalytic activity of the catalyst in dry reforming of methane.