“碳中和”专刊系列文章（二）｜镍基锆酸铈无机复合结构用于二氧化碳甲烷干重整

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jes.2023.01.022

The increasing anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) is encouraging extensive research in CO2 utilisation. Dry reforming of methane (DRM) depicts a viable strategy to convert both CO2 and CH4 into syngas, a worthwhile chemical intermediate. Among the different active phases for DRM, the use of nickel as catalyst is economically favourable, but typically deactivates due to sintering and carbon deposition. The stabilisation of Ni at different loadings in cerium zirconate inorganic complex structures is investigated in this work as strategy to develop robust Ni-based DRM catalysts. XRD and TPR-H2 analyses confirmed the existence of different phases according to the Ni loading in these materials. Besides, superficial Ni is observed as well as the existence of a CeNiO3 perovskite structure. The catalytic activity was tested, proving that 10 wt.% Ni loading is the optimum which maximises conversion. This catalyst was also tested in long-term stability experiments at 600 and 800°C in order to study the potential deactivation issues at two different temperatures. At 600°C, carbon formation is the main cause of catalytic deactivation, whereas a robust stability is shown at 800°C, observing no sintering of the active phase evidencing the success of this strategy rendering a new family of economically appealing CO2 and biogas mixtures upgrading catalysts.

通讯作者

Tomas R Reina, AMIChemE, FHEA, FRSC, obtained his PhD (Cum Laude) at the University of Seville (Spain) where he specialised in heterogeneous catalysis for energy applications. He has worked in several international institutions including the Brookhaven National Laboratory (NY, USA) the Institute of Chemical Engineering (Patras, Greece) and the Chemical Engineering Department at Imperial College London (UK). In 2016 he joined the Department of Chemical & Process Engineering at University of Surrey where he has developed his career as Catalysis & Reaction Engineering Group Leader. Recently, he has been appointed as Professor Titular at his alma mater, the University of Seville. His research in catalysis has been recognized by the international community with several awards including the EFCATS student award in 2013, the Spanish Society of Catalysis award in 2014, the extraordinary PhD award by the University of Seville 2014, the Young Scientist of the Year 2017 by Seville city council, the  Seville Royal Academy of Sciences / Royal Cavalry Armory young research award in 2018, the Chinese Academy of Sciences President award (CAS-PIFI) 2020, the FISOCat junior award 2022 and the Losada-Villasante award 2022 for his research in circular economy. He has also been finalist of the prestigious IChemE awards in 2016 and 2017 in the category of Young Academic Researcher. His research interests include the development of advanced heterogeneous catalysts and processes for energy and sustainability. In particular, Tomas’ work is focused on clean hydrogen production, fuel processing technologies, carbon dioxide utilization, biomass valorization and nano/microplastics removal in water.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1001074223000244