Cerium-promoted Ni/SiO2 catalyst for CO methanation

Ce-promoted Ni catalysts were developed and applied in a CO methanation reaction. The 10%Ni/SiO2 catalyst exhibits poor initial CO conversion (32.8%) and rapid deactivation with the highest methane selectivity during CO the methanation reaction. In contrast, the 4%Ce-10%Ni/SiO2 catalyst shows dramatically increased initial CO conversion, which is up to 90.7%. Additionally, the apparent activation energy, Ea value, of 4%Ce-10%Ni/SiO2 was calculated to be 102.2 kJ/mol according to the Arrhenius equation, which is much lower than that of the 10%Ni/SiO2 catalyst, which was 139.1 kJ/mol. Based on various characterization results, it is found that the added Ce significantly improves the dispersion of the supported nickel, suppresses the sintering of nickel particles, and forms more adsorbed CO species of three-fold carbonyl species, resulting in higher CO conversion and good stability during the CO methanation reaction.