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The sintering of Ni/Al2O3 methanation catalyst for substitute natural gas production

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Abstract

The sintering behavior of a co-precipitated Ni/Al2O3 methanation catalyst is studied by investigating the effect of treating time, temperature and atmosphere. Fresh and sintered samples are characterized by N2 physisorption, H2 chemisorption, temperature programmed reduction, X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. A reduction both in total and nickel surface area has been observed, the extent depending on the experimental conditions. Sintering of the studied catalyst, reflected by a significant decrease of nickel surface area, is a combined effect of primary encapsulation of metallic nickel due to the collapse of the support structure and sporadic agglomeration of nickel crystallites. The formation of a Ni2+ doped alumina phase, induced by steam ambience, further accelerates loss of surface nickel atoms. It is found that the sintering rate obeys a simple power law expression, with the apparent activation energy value of 118 kJ/mol. The sintered methanation catalyst suffers considerable decay of CO hydrogenation activity in a simulated industrial atmosphere, which suggests that extraordinarily high temperatures should be avoided as much as possible in the practical operation.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program, 2009AA050901) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21276250) for funding this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, 116023, Liaoning, China

    Xiaobo Bai, Sheng Wang, Tianjun Sun & Shudong Wang

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Xiaobo Bai

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  1. Xiaobo Bai
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  2. Sheng Wang
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  3. Tianjun Sun
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  4. Shudong Wang
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Correspondence to Shudong Wang.

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Bai, X., Wang, S., Sun, T. et al. The sintering of Ni/Al2O3 methanation catalyst for substitute natural gas production. Reac Kinet Mech Cat 112, 437–451 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11144-014-0700-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11144-014-0700-8

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