Hydrogen production through dry reforming of biogas on hydrotalcite derived materials

Abstract

In this study, real biogas produced by anaerobic digestion of organic waste was collected from a landfill. The valorization biogas using the dry reforming of methane was evaluated. For this purpose, Ni2Mg4Al2 catalyst was synthesized using co-precipitation method, calcined and reduced at 800 °C and analyzed using physico-chemical techniques. The efficiency of the sample in the dry reforming was evaluated in a series of 12 h stability tests at 750 °C in the presence of synthetic, clean, and unrefined biogas. The obtained results show a stable activity in all conditions except in the presence of unrefined biogas. Even though the initial conversion rate was above 70%, the activity quickly decreased, and the catalyst was completely deactivated after 2 h on stream. Using the thermal analysis of the used samples, no carbon was detected for this catalyst, proving that it was not the cause of the deactivation. However, XRD results showed a lack of reduced Ni species in this catalyst, suggesting that the deactivation may be due to the reoxidation of the active phase. In further studies, it would be interesting to work on developing a catalytic material resistant to oxidation in order to extend its shelf-life.