Ni-Co bimetallic catalyst for CH4 reforming with CO2

A co-precipitation method was employed to prepare Ni/Al2O3-ZrO2, Co/Al2 O3-ZrO2 and Ni-Co/Al2O3-ZrO2 catalysts. Their properties were characterized by N2 adsorption (BET), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), temperature-programmed reduction (TPR), temperature-programmed desorption (CO2-TPD), and temperature-programmed surface reaction (CH4-TPSR and CO2-TPSR). Ni-Co/Al2O3-ZrO2 bimetallic catalyst has good performance in the reduction of active components Ni, Co and CO2 adsorption. Compared with mono-metallic catalyst, bimetallic catalyst could provide more active sites and CO2 adsorption sites (C + CO2 = 2CO) for the methane-reforming reaction, and a more appropriate force formed between active components and composite support (SMSI) for the catalytic reaction. According to the CH4-CO2-TPSR, there were 80.9% and 81.5% higher CH4 and CO2 conversion over Ni-Co/Al2O3-ZrO2 catalyst, and its better resistance to carbon deposition, less than 0.5% of coke after 4 h reaction, was found by TGA. The high activity and excellent anti-coking of the Ni-Co/Al2O3-ZrO2 catalyst were closely related to the synergy between Ni and Co active metal, the strong metal-support interaction and the use of composite support.