CO2 reforming of CH4 on mesoporous alumina-supported cobalt catalyst: Optimization of lanthana promoter loading

• Main Authors: Tran, Ngoc Thang, Kumar, P. Senthil, Le, Quyet Van, Cuong, Nguyen Van, Phuong, Pham T. T., Jalil, A. A., Sharma, Gaurav, Kumar, Amit, Sharma, Ajit, Ayodele, Bamidele Victor, Zainal Abidin, Sumaiya, Vo, Dai-Viet N.
• Format: Article
• Published: Springer 2021
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/95493/; http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11244-021-01428-x

The impact of La2O3 promoter loading on alumina-supported cobalt catalysts was investigated in terms of physicochemical properties and catalytic performance for CO2 reforming of methane (CRM) at stoichiometric CH4/CO2 ratio and 1023 K. Both Co3O4 (with crystal size: 5.2–8.4 nm) and La2O3 nanoparticles were finely dispersed on support surface. The promotional La2O3 effect could noticeably increase CH4 and CO2 conversions to 29.3% and 17.3%, correspondingly due to improved basic site concentration and decreasing crystallite size of active metal in association with promoter addition. 5%La loading was an optimal promoter content for reactant conversions as well as yield of H2 and CO. 5%La-10%Co/Al2O3 also exhibited the highest resistance to carbon deposition owing to the basic nature, redox feature and oxygen vacancy of La2O3 dopant. Notably, the H2/CO ratio obtained within 0.84–0.98 is preferable for Fischer-Tropsch reaction in downstream to yield liquid hydrocarbon fuels.