Methane bi-reforming over boron-doped Ni/SBA-15 catalyst: Longevity evaluation

A highly active and stable boron-promoted catalyst was successfully prepared by using the sequential incipient wetness impregnation technique and examined for methane bi-reforming reaction. The initial investigation found that the NiO and B₂O₃ particles were dispersed on the outer surface of the high surface area SBA-15 support. In addition, the catalytic activity was increased linearly with the tested reaction temperature due to the endothermic nature of the reaction. In fact, the catalyst achieved the CH₄ conversion and H₂/CO molar ratio of approximately 67.3% and 2.7, respectively at 1073 K. The resulting product ratio is highly suitable for downstream Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis. The B-promoted catalyst showed the lowest degree of catalyst deactivation (4%) at 1023 K. Additionally, the XPS measurements unveiled that the boron facilitates the adsorption of CO₂ by donating electrons to the neighbouring Ni cluster and thus improved its catalytic performance. Furthermore, Raman and XRD analysis revealed that the boron promotion on 10%Ni/SBA-15 could prevent the reoxidation and deposition of carbonaceous species.