Role of oxide support in Ni based catalysts for CO methanation.

The CO methanation reaction of reduced and unreduced Ni based CeO, AlO, TiO and YO supported catalysts was investigated. The Ni/CeO and Ni/YO catalysts exhibited similar CO conversions at all reaction temperatures. The catalysts were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), H chemisorption, H temperature-programmed reduction (TPR), and diffuse reflection infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS); the results suggested that the reducibility of both metal and support at low temperature, strong metal support interaction and small Ni particle size are important factors for low-temperature CO methanation. Based on the DRIFT studies, the difference in the CO adsorption properties and reaction pathway depending on the reduced and unreduced Ni based supported catalysts was discussed.