Abstract
In the present work, the effect of scandium (Sc) promoter on the performance of Co/TiO2-P25 catalyst in dry reforming of methane has been investigated. The catalysts were prepared by the incipient wet impregnation technique. For each catalyst, the Co loading was fixed at 5 wt %, while the Sc loading was varied from 0.0 to 2.0 wt %. The experiments were carried out at atmospheric pressure in a micro tubular reactor at a temperature of 700 degrees C. For better understanding and comparison, the catalysts were characterized by various techniques such as Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), X-ray diffraction (XRD), H-2-temperature-programmed reduction (TPR), CO2-temperature-programmed desorption (TPD), and thermogravimetric analyses (TGA). The results revealed that the promotion of Co/TiO2-P25 catalyst with Sc has a significant impact on its catalytic performance and the amount of carbon deposition. The doping of Co/TiO2-P25 catalyst with Sc improves the basicity and enhances the metal support interaction in the catalyst. At higher Sc loading, Co metal oxidation became substantial that triggered severe catalyst deactivation. Amongst all Sc-promoted catalysts, 0.75 wt % Sc-promoted catalyst exhibited the highest CH4 and CO2 activity with minimum deactivation.