Latest trends in Syngas production employing compound catalysts for methane dry reforming

The rise in the global population has ultimately steered to increase in global energy consumptions. This masqueraded several challenges worldwide. The most troublesome being the accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) that induced a global climatic change. The utilization of fossil fuels like petroleum, coal and natural gas on the copious scale has led to the elevated levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) in the global environment. Dry reforming of methane (DRM) is a highly favorable technique as it utilizes two of the prominent GHGs, CH4 and CO2 to generate a useful and valuable product viz. syngas. However, the deactivation, coking and sintering of catalysts are still the main hurdles in the commercialization of the process. The compound metal catalysts have shown enhanced activity and prolonged durability when compared with monometallic catalysts due to enhanced morphology, improved and stable catalytic structure, i.e., both coke and sintering resistant at high temperatures. This brief review spotlights the recent developments in DRM by emphasizing parameters such as the effects of catalyst support, bimetallic catalyst, promoters and strong metal-support interaction (SMSI) in the last decade.