Enhanced catalytic behaviour of surface dispersed nickel on LaCuO3 perovskite in the production of syngas: An expedient approach to carbon resistance during CO2 reforming of methane

Abstract Perovskite oxide LaCuO 3 and LaCu 0.53 Ni 0.47 O 3 were prepared using the sol–gel citrate method, whereas 5% NiO/LaCuO 3 was prepared by impregnation. The products obtained, after heat treatment under air at 800 °C, were characterized by several techniques such as: thermogravimetric analysis (TG), inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP–AES), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method (BET) and temperature programmed reduction (TPR). After reduction, the catalysts were evaluated in the reforming of methane reaction under continuous flow with CH 4 /CO 2 ratio equal to 1, at atmospheric pressure and a temperature range [500–700 °C]. The catalytic activity was tested in a fixed bed reactor. At 700 °C, the amount of CH 4 consumed was in its lowest in the presence of LaCuO 3 whereas the amount of CH 4 conversion increased to 60% in case of LaCu 0.53 Ni 0.47 O 3 precursor. The best results were obtained using 5% NiO/LaCuO 3 precursor, whereby the amount of CH 4 consumed augmented by 16.5% compared to that of LaCu 0.53 Ni 0.47 O 3 .