Nanocatalysts anchored on nanofiber support for high syngas production via methane partial oxidation

Abstract

© 2018 Nanofibrous NiAl2O4/Al2O3 ceramic was prepared by electrospinning and subsequent calcination at 1000 °C. Under reducing atmosphere, Ni nanoparticles in situ grew from and were rooted in nanofibrous support. The anchored Ni-NiOx nanocatalysts showed the strong interaction with Al2O3-NiAl2O4 supports owing to the incompletion of NiAl2O4 and NiO reduction and therefore high resistances to aggregation and carbon formation. The nanofibrous catalysts have the advantages of both metal gauze catalysts (fast mass transfer) and supported catalysts (nanosized catalysts). Compared with conventional supported Ni-based catalysts, the nanofibours catalysts produced the highest syngas production during methane partial oxidation at the highest recorded gas hourly space velocity of 8 × 106 L·Kg-1 h-1. The catalytic reaction was operated for 10 h without noticeable performance degradation and the fibrous structure of the nanocatalysts was retained.