An Active Manganese Promoted Ni/Al2O3 Catalyst for Low Temperature CO2 Methanation

As well known, the industrial methanation process needs highly active and stable catalysts obtained from cheap and abundant elements. In this work, we propose a high-loaded Ni/Al 2 O 3 catalyst promoted by manganese. Among them, the 20Ni2Mn/Al 2 O 3 catalyst exhibits the best CO 2 conversion (90.5%) and excellent methanation stability at 250 °C. In addition, the roles of the Mn promoter on CO 2 conversion and selectivity were investigated in detail. The features of natural and promoted catalysts are described through XRD, XRF, BET, TEM, H 2 -TPR, CO 2 -TPD, and operando DRIFTS techniques. Based on various characterization results, the addition of Mn will greatly reduce the Ni particle size and improve the Ni dispersion on the alumina support. Furthermore, compared to the unpromoted catalyst, Mn promoted catalysts show better reducibility and have more medium basic sites. And these medium basic sites are favorable to the adsorption and activation of CO 2 . In-situ DRIFTS experiments for CO 2 methanation reveal that manganese could promote the monodentate carbonate hydrogenated to formate rapidly, which could be faster converted towards CH 4 , contributing to significantly improved activity of the Mn promoted Ni/Al 2 O 3 catalyst. Graphical Abstract