Methanation of low-temperature volatile matter of coal by using Ni-intercalated montmorillonite catalyst.

Catalytic activity of Ni-intercalated montmorillonite clay and some other Ni loaded oxides were studied for methanation of low-temperature volatile matter of the Shinyubari coal. Among these catalysts, Ni-montmorillonite exhibited the highest activity in methanation of the low temperature volatile matter below 600 t with a conversion of 95% on the carbon basis.It was found that the catalytic activity of Ni metal changed by using different support materials. The order of the methanation activity was determined as: montmorillonite>zeolite (MS-5A) SiO2≅γ-Al2O3.The structure of Ni-montmorillonite catalyst was investigated by the TG, XRD and FT/IR methods, which revealed that the metallic Ni was highly dispersed on the surface and the interlamellar surface of montmorillonite.