Effect of Adding Gadolinium Oxide Promoter on Nickel Catalyst over Yttrium-Zirconium Oxide Support for Dry Reforming of Methane

The dry reforming of methane (DRM) was studied for seven hours at 800 °C and 42 L/(g·h) gas hourly space velocity over Ni-based catalysts, promoted with various amounts of gadolinium oxide (x = 0.0, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0 wt.%) and supported on mesoporous yttrium-zirconium oxide (YZr). The best catalyst was found to have 4.0 wt.% of gadolinium, which resulted in ∼80% and ∼86% conversions of CH(4) and CO(2), respectively, and a mole ratio of ∼0.90 H(2)/CO. The addition of Gd(2)O(3) shifted the diffraction peaks of the support to higher angles, indicating the incorporation of the promoter into the unit cell of the YZr support. The Gd(2)O(3) promoter improved the catalyst basicity and the interaction of NiO with support, which were reflected in the coke resistance (6.0 wt.% carbon deposit on 5Ni+4Gd/YZr; 19.0 wt.% carbon deposit on 5Ni/YZr) and the stability of our catalysts. The Gd(2)O(3) is believed to react with carbon dioxide to form oxycarbonate species and helps to gasify the surface of the catalysts. In addition, the Gd(2)O(3) enhanced the activation of CH(4) and its conversion on the metallic nickel sites.