Water-Gas Shift Reaction over Ni/CeO2 Catalysts

This paper reports the results of a study of a water-gas shift reaction over nickel-ceria catalysts with different metal loading. Within this study, the overall CO conversion and observed kinetic behavior were investigated over the temperature range of 250-550 degrees C in different reactor configurations (fixed-bed and microchannel reactors). The quasi-steady state kinetics of the CO water-gas shift reaction was studied for fractions of Ni-containing cerium oxide catalysts in fixed-bed experiments at lab-scale level using a very dilute gas (1% CO + 1.8% H2O in He). A set of experiments with a microchannel reactor was performed using the feed composition (CO:H2O:H-2:N-2 = 1:2:2:2), representing a product gas from methane partial oxidation. The results were interpreted using computational models. The kinetic parameters were determined by regression analysis, while mechanistic aspects were considered only briefly. Simulation of the WGS reaction in the microreactor was also carried out by using the COMSOL Multiphysics program.