Abstract
The carbon dioxide reforming by methane is an attractive conversion technology because of the possibility of enhancing natural gas utilization with the sequestration of greenhouse gases. However, the CO2 reforming by CH4 is a highly energy consuming and coke forming process. To overcome these problems, an electrocatalytic internal reforming of CO2 by CH4 to cogeneration a syngas and electricity in a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system was suggested. The CO2 reforming by CH4 over Ni-YSZ based catalysts was studied to check the possibility of development of a high performance catalyst electrode for application in an electrocatalytic reforming in the SOFC system. The catalysts before and after the reaction were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 physisorption, CO chemisorption and temperature programmed reduction (TPR). It was found that the Ni-YSZ-CeO2 catalyst showed higher conversions of CO and CH4 than the Ni-YSZ-MgO catalyst at temperature range of 650 ∼ 850°C, and the maximum activity was observed at above 800°C. It was concluded that the Ni-YSZ-CeO2 catalyst is a promising candidate for development as a catalyst anode material for an electrocatalytic reforming in the SOFC system.
