Ni catalysts modified with mesoporous silica support: The role of Pr2O3 and MgO on the methanation of CO2

One way to solve environmental and energy related problems is to use carbon dioxide as a raw material along with renewable H2 to make useful chemicals and goods from those alternative energy sources. Several compo-sitions of xNi-MCM-41/MgO-Pr2O3 were used for CO2 methanation via the hydrothermal synthesis method. Techniques such as TEM, H2-TPD, XRD, SEM, and BET were used to study the influence of the mechanism of the catalyst during CO2 methanation. The best performance was obtained for the 1.5 % Ni-MCM-41/MgO-Pr2O3 catalyst at 400 degrees C and normal atmospheric pressure, where the CO2 conversion efficiency and selectivity were 87.4 and 99.9 %, respectively. It was thought that the synergistic effects between the Ni active sites, the pro-moter, and the support were important for the high reactivity of the catalysts. These effects included better Ni dispersion and more CO2 adsorption sites due to the inclusion of MgO-Pr2O3. The promoted catalyst retained its high reactivity after 30 h on stream as observed during the stability test.