Hydroxyl-promoter on hydrated Ni-(Mg, Si) attapulgite with high metal sintering resistance for biomass derived gas reforming

Abstract As hydrated magnesium-aluminum-silicate crystals, attapulgite and HNO 3 /NaOH pretreated attapulgite were used as support to prepare nickel-based catalysts via ultrasonic-assisted impregnation method. The as-prepared catalysts were employed in the biomass derived gas (especially CO 2 and CH 4 ) reforming with a considerable catalytic performance achieved (CH 4 conversion: 75.26%, CO 2 conversion: 85.75%) over HNO 3 -attapulgite (10% Ni) at 700 °C and GHSV of 36000 mL/g.h during 600 min, demonstrating the potential of modified attapulgite as support applied in catalytic reforming. According to the characterization results obtained from BET/FT-IR/H 2 -TPR/XRD/SEM/TPO, it was found that the formation of (Ni, Mg) containing phyllosilicate improved metal sintering resistance by the confinement effect. Besides, FT-IR results illustrated the existence of hydroxyl in the catalyst structure, which was beneficial for inhibiting the Boudouard side reaction, further enhancing the carbon resistance of catalysts. Moreover, TPO results showed that the deposited carbon on modified attapulgite was mainly fibrous carbon which can be removed easily, thus maintaining the catalytic performance. Due to its unique structure and high metal sintering resistance, it is believed that the attapulgite supported catalyst can be used in any other catalytic reforming process such as steam reforming of methane.