Self-cleaning perovskite type catalysts for the dry reforming of methane

Gas-to-liquid processes are generally used to convert natural gas or other gaseous hydrocarbons into liquid fuels via an intermediate syngas stream. This includes the production of liquid fuels from biomass-derived sources such as biogas. For example, the dry reforming of methane is done by reacting CH₄ and CO₂, the two main components of natural biogas, into more valuable products, i.e., CO and H₂. Nickel containing perovskite type catalysts can promote this reaction, yielding good conversions and selectivities; however, they are prone to coke laydown under certain operating conditions. We investigated the addition of high oxygen mobility dopants such as CeO₂, ZrO₂, or YSZ to reduce carbon laydown, particularly using reaction conditions that normally result in rapid coking. While doping with YSZ, YDC, GDC, and SDC did not result in any improvement, we show that a Ni perovskite catalyst (Na_0.5La_0.5Ni_0.3Al_0.7O_2.5) doped with 80.9 ZrO₂ 15.2 CeO₂ gave the lowest amount of carbon formation at 800℃ and activity was maintained over the operating time.