Catalytic methanation of syngas over Ni-based catalysts with different supports

Abstract Co-precipitation method was selected for the preparation of Ni/Al 2 O 3 , Ni/ZrO 2 and Ni/CeO 2 catalysts, and their performances in methanation were investigated in this study. The structure and surface properties of these catalysts were characterized by BET, XRD, H 2 -TPD, TEM and H 2 -TPR. The results showed that the catalytic activity at low temperature followed the order: Ni/Al 2 O 3  > Ni/ZrO 2  > Ni/CeO 2 . Ni/Al 2 O 3 catalyst presented the best catalytic performance with the highest CH 4 selectivity of 94.5%. The characterization results indicated that the dispersion of the active component Ni was the main factor affecting the catalytic activity and the one with higher dispersion gave better performance.