Hydrogen production from coke oven gas over LiNi/γ-Al 2O 3 catalyst modified by rare earth metal oxide in a membrane reactor

• Published in: Journal of natural gas chemistry 2009, Vol.18 (4), p.407-414
• Main Authors: Yang, Zhibin, Zhang, Yunyan, Ding, Weizhong, Zhang, Yuwen, Shen, Peijun, Zhou, Yuding, Liu, Yong, Huang, Shaoqing, Lu, Xionggang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: membrane reactor; oxygen permeation; rare earth metal oxide
• ISSN: 1003-9953
• DOI: 10.1016/S1003-9953(08)60131-0

The performance of LiNi/-Al 2O 3 catalysts modified by rare earth metal oxide (La 2O 3 or CeO 2) packed on BCFNO membrane reactor was discussed for the partial oxidation of methane (POM) in coke oven gas (COG) at 875 °C. The NiO/γ-Al 2O 3 catalysts with different amounts of La 2O 3 and CeO 2 were prepared with the same preparation method and under the same condition in order to compare the reaction performance (oxygen permeation, CH 4 conversion, H 2 and CO selectivity) on the membrane reactor. The results show that the oxygen permeation flux increased significantly with LiNiREO x/γ-Al 2O 3 (RE = La or Ce) catalysts by adding the element of rare earth especially the Ce during the POM in COG. Such as, the Li15wt%CeO 29wt%NiO/-Al 2O 3 catalyst with an oxygen permeation flux of 24.71 ml·cm −2·min −1 and a high CH 4 conversion was obtained in 875 °C. The resulted high oxygen permeation flux may be due to the added Ce that inhibited the strong interaction between Ni and Al 2O 3 to form the NiAl 2O 4 phase. In addition, the introduction of Ce leads up to an important property of storing and releasing oxygen.