Characterizations of Ni-loaded lignite char catalysts and their performance enhancements to catalytic steam gasification of coal

Catalyst characteristics such as specific surface area, porosity and active site play an essential role in catalyst design. Understanding of the characteristic functions in controlling catalyst activity is necessary for considering the catalyst application, especially the Ni-loaded lignite char catalyst, employed in catalytic steam gasification. In this work, the unmodified and five modified catalysts were used to study the effect of catalyst characteristics on their performance for catalytic steam gasification of coal in the two-stage fixed-bed reactor. The findings indicated that the fresh acid modified catalysts increased specific surface area and micropore formation, including the smaller Ni metal crystallite size, the decreasing of Ni metal nanoparticle size and the well-dispersed of Ni metal nanoparticles. Meanwhile, the fresh modified catalysts by the alkali and the combined alkali-acid treatments promoted mesopore formation. Enhancing catalytic steam gasification of coal, it was found that the mesoporosity of catalyst was the considerable initial characteristic for controlling the catalyst activity. The total gas yields of the mesoporous catalysts were in the range of 50.65–77.70 mmol/gVM,feed, while the total gas yields of the microporous catalysts were 43.82–55.34 mmol/gVM,feed. After catalyst testings, the specific surface areas and number of mesopores in the spent catalysts were increased by steam. Remarkably, these changing pore sizes affected the transformations of the isotherms (type I + II to type II) and the hysteresis loops (type H4 to type H3). Also, steam influenced the conversion of Ni metals to NiO, Ni(OH)2 and Ni2O3. For thermal property, all spent catalysts had high thermal stability. The modified catalysts could decrease carbon deposition more than the unmodified catalyst, which was an upside for catalyst reusability. © 2022 Energy Institute