Nickel Catalysts on Porous Ceramic Supports for the Reaction of Partial Oxidation of Propane to CO and H2

Abstract

In this paper synthesis, textural and structural properties as well as selectivity of Ni based catalysts for partial oxidation of propane to CO and H2 are given. The influence of aluminosilicate and magnesia based porous ceramic supports on catalyst performance is emphasized. The influence of concentration of impregnation solution, number of successive impregnations and nature of modifier was investigated. The catalytic test was performed in order to define the catalyst with the highest selectivity toward CO and H2 while the presence of side-products like CO2, CH4, and coke as well as unreacted C3H8 are reduced to minimum. All synthesized catalysts samples were dominantly macroporous. The selectivity of catalysts increased with presence of modifiers in the following order: CaO < MgO < Al2O3. The selectivity of studied catalysts is governed mainly by two structural parameters: nickel loading and nickel crystallite size. The comparison of the best performing aluminosilicate and magnesia supported catalysts with Al as modifier revealed that the latter express somewhat lower selectivity particularly toward CO.