Catalytic partial oxidation of methane to syngas over Ni based nanocatalysts

Project leaders

Annamaria Venezia, Bal Rajaram

Agreement

INDIA - CSIR-expired - Council of Scientific and Industrial Research

Call

CNR/CSIR 2012-2014

Department

Molecular Design

Thematic area

Chemical sciences and materials technology

Status of the project

Extended

Report for renewal

final-report.pdf

Research proposal

Methane is the main component of natural gas (NG), landfill gas and a by-product from oil refining and chemical processing. It has an enormous potential value as a source of clean fossil energy or as a raw material provided it can be brought to the point of use economically. NG reservoirs are large and widespread throughout the world and it was estimated that at the end of 2006 the value will be approximately 6300 trillion cubic feet. But the technology for the conversion of the reserves into value added products remains as yet elusive due to the extremely high stability of the C-H bonds in the CH4 molecule. The catalytic partial oxidation of methane (CPO) is an attractive route for the production of synthesis gas compared to the conventional steam methane reforming process (SMR).  It gives a favorable H2/CO (about 2) ratio of the produced synthesis gas, which is appropriate for processes such as methanol or Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. In addition, CPO can be operated in a millisecond contact-time reactor, being able to provide a compact hydrogen processor for its use in fuel cell electric vehicles [1-4]. The project involves the use of different strategies for the synthesis of novel Ni nanoparticles supported on different nanocrystalline/nanoporous metal oxides like CeO2, ZrO2, Al2O3, etc. , their detailed characterization using different analytical techniques followed by their evaluation as catalysts for partial oxidation of methane to syngas.
 
References:

1. L.D. Vella, J.A. Villoria, S. Specchia, N.Mota, J.L.G. Fierro, V. Specchia; Catalysis Today, 171 (2011) 84.
2. S. Kado, K. Imagawa, A. Kiryu, F. Yagi, T. Minami, H. Kawai, K. Kawazuishi, K. Tomishige, A. Nakamura, Y. Suehiro; Catalysis Today, 171 (2011) 97.
3. T. Sasaki, K. Nakao, K. Tomishige, K. Kunimori, Chem. Commun., (2006) 3821.
4. T.V. Choudhary, V.R. Choudhary, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 47 (2008) 1828.

Research goals

Preparation of novel highly dispersed mono and bimetallic Ni based noble nanoparticles supported on nanoporous/nanocrystalline metal oxides as catalysts for the partial oxidation of methane to produce syngas.
 The catalysts will be prepared by sol-gel sinteses and by co-precipitation followed by impregnation. One novel approach for preparing new catalysts, would be to synthesize the Ni-nanoparticles supported on different supports by hydrothermal synthesis method in presence of surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide. These materials will then be characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS, TPR, surface area and porosity measurement to ensure the formation of Ni nanoparticles supported on nanocrystalline metal oxides. These materials will be evaluated as catalysts for the partial oxidation of methane to produce syngas.
Another approach would be to synthesize the nanocrystalline support metal oxides followed by the incorporation of Ni-nanoparticles by bi-solvents method using two different solvents such as n-hexane and water.
Alkali metal and rare earth metal oxides (like Nd, gd, Dy etc.) will be used as promoters to enhance the carbon deposition resistance as it is reported that catalyst stability is a major concern for Ni-containing CH4 reforming catalyst.

Last update: 19/05/2025