M Zarei - Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran
M Rezaei - Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran -Catalyst and Advanced Materials Research Laboratory, Chemical Engineering Department, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran
F Meshkani - Catalyst and Advanced Materials Research Laboratory, Chemical Engineering Department, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran

In this work, mesoporous nanocrystalline Ni/MgAl2O4 catalysts with different nickel contents from 5 to 15 wt% wereprepared using surfactant assisted sol gel combustion method and evaluated in dry reforming reaction. The preparedcatalysts were characterized using N2 adsorption (BET), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Temperature- programmed oxidation(TPO) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. The XRD result shows that crystalline size of catalysts arein nanometer scale The BET analysis presented a high specific surface area and mesoporous structure for the preparedcatalysts. The obtained indicated showed that increasing in Ni content increased both CH4 and CO2 conversions. TheTPO results indicated 15%Ni/MgAl2O4 catalyst showed the highest carbon formation. SEM analysis assigned theformation of filament type carbon over the spent 15%Ni/MgAl2O4 catalyst. In addition, 15% Ni/MgAl2O4 catalyst hashigh activity among investigated catalysts in dry reforming of methane reaction.

Sol gel combustion, Nanocatalyst, MgAl2O4, Dry reforming