Oxy-CO2 reforming of methane on PdNi/Y2O3: Role of synthesized supports on Pd-Ni interaction

Abstract

Y2O3 nanocrystals synthesized at different pH by homogeneous precipitation method are found to be spherical but have different crystal sizes. Y2O3 synthesized at pH > 7 has much smaller size than at pH < 7. Although the physical size is much different, however the crystal size calculated from Debye-Scherrer formula is quite constant. These Y2O3 nanocrystals were impregnated with palladium-nickel and investigated for oxy-CO2 reforming of methane to produce syngas. Catalytic tests show that the catalysts prepared from synthesized Y2O3 at pH near neutral have high performance and good stability. Moreover, TPR results of the catalysts show that the PdO peak shifts to higher temperature while NiO peak shifts to lower temperature, indicating the presence of stronger interaction between Pd and Ni. All these results show that the catalyst support synthesized at different pH plays an important role in their catalytic performance for oxy-CO2 reforming of methane.