Effect of the ceria-alumina composite support on the Mo-based catalyst's sulfur-resistant activity for the synthetic natural gas process

Ceria-alumina composite supports were prepared by the co-precipitation (cop), impregnation (imp) or deposition-precipitation (dp) methods. Co-Mo catalysts supported on these composite supports were prepared by the imp method and their catalytic activities for sulfur-resistant methanation of synthesis gas were investigated. The catalysts were characterized by nitrogen adsorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and hydrogen temperature-programmed reduction (TPR). It was found that the preparation method of ceria-alumina composite support had a marked influence on the surface area, the interaction between ceria and alumina, and the catalytic performance for sulfur-resistant methanation. Among them, the ceria-alumina composite support prepared by dp method achieves the best methanation activity due to its smaller ceria particle size, better ceria dispersion, weak interaction between ceria-alumina as suggested by XRD and TPR results.