Biomass Fly Ash (BFA) Supported Ni/CaO Catalysts for Partial Oxidation of Methane to Syngas Production

Abstract

In this study, BFA supported Ni/CaO catalysts were synthesized, characterized and evaluated their catalytic behaviour for syngas production via partial oxidation of methane (POM) reaction in a fixed bed thermal reactor. Ni/CaO-BFA was synthesized by using biomass fly ash (BFA) and eggshell derived CaO supported catalyst. The catalyst was characterized by using various characterization techniques including Xray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive Xray analysis (EDX), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and RAMAN spectroscopy for the investigation of reaction performance, metal dispersion, thermal stability and coke deposition. The characterization results demonstrated the better dispersion of Ni metal over support material with enhancing thermal stability at high temperature POM reaction and suppressed coke deposition due to the presence of active Ni species and BFA as main support. The 10% Ni/CaO-BFA tested for POM and demonstrated superior catalytic behaviour in CH4 conversion and H2/CO ratio than BFA, CaO and CaO-BFA. Maximum 87% CH4 conversion was achieved by utilizing 10% Ni/CaO-BFA with H2/CO ratio of 1.9 as it is an effective precursor for liquid fuels (FT synthesis) production. The most stable catalyst has shown coke resisting properties in POM reaction even after 36 hours which was confirmed by the characterization of spent catalyst. Thus, the development of more efficient catalyst with the influence of Ni content and support on POM activity was extensively studied.