Dry Reforming of Methane over Ni-Ru/MgAl2O4 Catalyst with High Coke Resistance for Syngas Production

Dry reforming of methane (DRM) has attracted attention as an eco-friendly technology that generates synthetic gas from two main greenhouse gases, CH
4
and CO
2
. However, the catalysts applied for DRM are easily deactivated due to carbon deposition and sintering at high temperature. In this study, to prevent deterioration of the catalyst performance due to carbon deposition, Ru was added to the Ni-based catalyst to enhance its activity and coking-resistant properties. Changes in the specific surface area, reduction temperature, metal dispersion, and CO
2
adsorption characteristics were investigated to support the use of a small amount of Ru metal. The DRM reaction was conducted by injecting the reactant with CH
4
:CO
2
:N
2
= 1:1:1 at a gas hourly space velocity of 144,000 ml/h∙g
cat
in the temperature range of 600-750 °C. While investigating the effect of adding Ru, the Ni–Ru bimetallic catalyst showed better catalytic activity than the Ni/MgAl
2
O
4
catalyst. In particular, the Ru-Ni(D)/MgAl
2
O
4
catalyst prepared by simultaneously precipitating Ni and Ru showed high metal dispersion and improved low-temperature reduction properties. It also exhibited the best catalytic activity and coke resistance properties in the DRM reaction experiment.