Microwave catalytic dry reforming of methane over Ni/SiC catalysts for efficient syngas production

Syngas is a crucial industrial feedstock in the F-T process to produce energy compounds. Dry reforming of methane (DRM) provides a green approach for syngas production by consuming greenhouse gases CH4 and CO2. Here, we investigated syngas production by microwave catalytic DRM over Ni/SiC catalysts. The Ni/SiC catalysts exhibited robust metal-support interaction and a high ability to absorb microwave energy. The 3Ni/SiC-423K catalyst outperformed the 3Ni/SiC-363K and 3Ni/SiC-473K catalysts in adsorbing microwave energy. This resulted in the highest rates of CH4 (8.98 mmol/(gNi & sdot;s)) and CO2 (10.88 mmol/(gNi & sdot;s)) at 923 K. The Ni-SiC support interaction retarded Ni nanoparticle sintering and the high surface temperature reduced carbon deposition on the used 3Ni/SiC-423K catalyst. The work reported efficient syngas production by microwave catalytic DRM, and the microwave technique can be extended to other reactions for performance enhancement.