Methane dry reforming with CO2 over ceria supported Ni catalyst prepared by reverse microemulsion synthesis

Reverse microemulsion synthesis route was employed for the preparation of Ni/CeO 2 catalysts with the aim of their application in dry reforming of methane. The catalytic activity and stability of the prepared catalysts was investigated in the temperature range of 550-800 degrees C with the ratio of CH4/CO2 = 1 and at high gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) of reactants (1.2 x 10(5) ml h(-1) g(-1)). In the prepared series of catalysts (20% Ni/CeO2, 40% Ni/CeO2, 80%Ni/CeO2); 40% Ni/CeO2(NC2) exhibited higher catalytic activity and better stability compared to 20% Ni/CeO2 (NCl) and 80% Ni/CeO2 (NC3). Moreover, results indicated that NC2 was found to be stable catalyst for both gas yield and H-2/CO ratio. This study indicated that proper balance between Ni metal and CeO2 content played a critical role in the achievement of better catalyst performance and in the decrease of carbon deposition. The characterization of fresh and spent catalysts was done by BET, XRD, TPR-H-2, EDX and TEM.