Biogas reforming for syngas production over nickel supported on ceria–alumina catalysts

A series of 8 wt% nickel catalysts supported on alumina and alumina-modified with different amounts of ceria were prepared. The effect of the supporting ceria loading at the catalytic performance for the biogas reforming reaction was investigated. The physicochemical properties of the final catalysts were determined by using different techniques: N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms, X-ray diffraction (XRD), inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Catalytic performance was evaluated for the biogas reforming reaction using a feed gas mixture of CH4/CO2 = 1.5, simulating a clean model of biogas. It was shown that nickel catalysts supported on ceria–alumina exhibit slightly higher conversion values, compared to the one supported on alumina above 800 °C, which can be mainly attributed to the redox properties of ceria. In particular, the 8 wt% nickel catalyst supported on 20 wt% ceria–alumina was proven to have the best catalytic performance with a highest H2/CO ratio of about 1.3. The biogas reforming reaction catalyzed by nickel–alumina doped with ceria catalysts seems to be an appropriate process in order to produce syngas suitable for methanol or Fischer–Tropsch synthesis reactions, which require H2/CO ratio values between one and two (1 to 2).