SUBSTITUTED PEROVSKITES FOR DRY REFORMING OF METHANE

Israelis encouraging a transition to natural gas (80-99% methane) as a potential energy source to replace crude oil. The dry reforming of methane (DRM) is a well-studied, yet unindustrialized reaction, which consumes methane and carbon dioxide in order to make synthesis gas, a precursor for synthetic liquid fuel production via Fisher Tropsch synthesis. The multistep process for producing synthetic fuels from natural gas is collectively known as Gas-to-Liquid (GTL) technology. The main drawbacks of DRM preventing its industrialization are the high temperatures required to obtain equilibrium conversion and catalyst deactivation due to sintering, oxidation and carbon deposition. It is therefore necessary to design multi-functional catalyst which can show industrially relevant conversions together with long-term stability.

Here, Perovskites are used as a precursor material to create a supported catalyst. Perovskites have a unique ABO₃ structure capable of accepting a wide range of substitutions at its lattice sites. Upon activation in hydrogen, some B-site metals will reduce and segregate to the surface forming active catalyst phases. Our study probes lanthanum (La) based Perovskites as multifunctional catalysts for DMR. We wish to study how activation of the LaNi_xFe_yRe_zO_3(1-δ)-type Perovskites can give rise to a multifunctional catalyst exploiting the high activity of nickel (Ni) promoted by rhenium (Re) as well as the stability and favorable redox of iron (Fe) towards the DRM.

Fresh and spent catalysts are characterized by ESEM, XRD, BET, XPS in order to define the microstructure and morphology, which can then be linked to the material’s catalytic properties.