Research on Ni/γ-Al2O3 catalyst for CO2 reforming of CH4 prepared by atmospheric pressure glow discharge plasma jet

Ni/γ-Al2O3 catalyst had been prepared by atmospheric pressure glow discharge (APGD) plasma jet. Such plasma-prepared catalyst exhibited an improved low-temperature activity in CO2 reforming of CH4, compared to that of the catalyst prepared by conventional method. Characteristics of catalysts were analyzed by means of X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), temperature programmed desorption (TPD) experiment with H2 or CO2 probe, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) procedure, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The XRD and TEM characterization showed that this novel plasma-assisted preparation induced Ni nano-particles as small as 5 nm. The results of XRD, H2-TPD and TEM confirmed that, the nickel dispersion of the Ni/γ-Al2O3 catalyst by APGD was enhanced greatly. The improved anti-coke deposition performance was illustrated from the results of TGA, CO2-TPD and the stability test experiments.