Ni-based Dual Functional Materials for CO2 Absorption-Enhanced Methanation (AEM)

Abstract

Considerable work has been done to reduce CO2 emissions through CO2 methanation using commonly Nickel-based catalysts. Supports and promoters are added to the catalyst to enhance performance and overcome sintering and carbon deposition issues. Nonetheless, current experiments use ceramic and metal oxide support such as silica, aluminum oxide, 𝑇𝑖𝑂2, and 𝑍𝑟𝑂2 with the addition of promoters such as Ce-Pr. However, the approximate CO2 conversion is only around 83%. Recently, Carbon materials began to gain considerable attention as potential metallic support for Nickle nanoparticles. Both CO2 conversion and catalytic stability show improvements with carbon material support. Furthermore, adding Ce- Pr as a promoter to Ni/GO catalyst increases CO2 conversion and CH4 selectivity more. This study aims to develop a carbon (Graphene) supported Nickel-based catalyst that achieves high CO2 conversion and CH4 selectivity. The synthesized catalyst has been tested towards CO2methanation using a continuous flow fixed-bed stainless steel reactor. CO2 conversion and CH4 yields are calculated based on relevant equations. Catalysts have been examined using basic characterization, such as X-Ray Diffraction Analysis (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis (EDX), and RAMAN spectroscopy thus far. The prepared catalyst in The Center for Catalysis and Separation (CeCaS) will be benchmarked with an industrial-grade Graphene “GRAFEN” to further investigate current graphene's performance.

Date of Award	10 Aug 2024
Original language	American English
Supervisor	Kyriaki Polychronopoulou (Supervisor)