Catalytic Performance for CO Methanation over Ni/MCM-41 Catalyst in a Slurry-Bed Reactor

The Ni-based catalyst has been intensively studied for CO methanation. Here, MCM-41 is selected as support to prepare xNi/MCM-41 catalysts with various Ni contents and the catalytic performance for CO methanation in a slurry-bed reactor is investigated under different reaction conditions. The CO conversion gradually increases as the reaction temperature or pressure rises. As the Ni content increases, the specific surface area and pore volume of xNi/MCM-41 catalysts decrease, the crystallite sizes of metallic Ni increase, while the metal surface area and active Ni atom numbers firstly increase and then slightly decrease. The 20Ni/MCM-41 catalyst with the Ni content of 20 wt% exhibits the highest catalytic activity for CO methanation, and the initial CH4 yield rate is well correlated to the active metallic Ni atom numbers. The characterization of the spent xNi/MCM-41 catalysts shows that the agglomeration of Ni metal is accountable for the catalyst deactivation.