Accumulation of the Carbonaceous Species on the Ni/Al₂O₃ Catalyst during CO₂ Reforming of Methane

The dependency of the rate of $CO_2$ reforming of methane on the catalyst loading and the reactor size was examined at a fixed temperature of $750\;^{\circ}C$ and a fixed GHSV of 18000 mL(STP)/$g_{cat}.h$. The conversion of methane in $CO_2$reforming decreased with increase in the reactor size. The catalyst was severely deactivated with increase in the catalyst amount. The amount of carbonaceous species combustible below $550\;^{\circ}C$, determined by TPO experiments with the used catalyst samples increased with increase in the catalyst amount, which was again confirmed by XRD and TEM experiments. The increase of the carbonaceous species combustible below $550\;^{\circ}C$ may be due to the suppression of the reverse Boudouard reaction, since the $CO_2$ reforming of methane, a highly endothermic reaction, resulted in lowering the reaction temperature.