H-2 production from reforming biogas (CH4+CO2) in the Ni-doped Sr0.92Y0.08TiO3 perovskite catalyst

Abstract

This study deals with the development of novel Sr0.92Y0.08TiO3 - based catalyst for H-2 production from reforming biogas (consisted of CH4 and CO2). The small amount of Ni was doped on the Ti lattice site of Sr0.92Y0.08TiO3 to greatly improve catalytic activity. The Ni-doped Sr0.92Y0.08TiO3 catalyst was prepared at reduced temperature via a Pechini method. First, we see the significant enhanced H-2 production of Ni-doped Sr0.92Y0.08TiO3 catalyst ( CH4 conversion=62 similar to 76% at 750 degrees C) compared to the pure Sr0.92Y0.08TiO3 catalyst (CH4 conversion=15%). Second, the analysis of surface property at reaction conditions displays that the catalytic activity of Ni-doped Sr0.92Y0.08TiO3 toward the reforming of biogas strongly depends on the activation condition (or pretreatment condition) of catalysts. In particular, the activation of catalyst at 100 mol% N-2 (inert condition) shows the higher reactivity (CH4 conversion of 76%) for reforming biogas than the 15 mol% H-2 in N-2 (reducing condition) (a CH4 conversion of 62%). We also conducted the density functional theory calculation in order to better understand the origin of enhanced catalysis in H-2 production from reforming biogas, which suggests that the reduction of oxygen vacancy formation energy is key to the improvement of catalytic activity. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.