Dry reforming of methane to synthesis gas over supported molybdenum carbide catalysts

The dry reforming of methane at elevated pressure over supported molybdenum carbide catalysts, prepared from oxide precursors using ethane TPR, has been studied. The relative stability of the catalysts is Mo₂C/Al₂O₃>Mo₂C/ZrO₂>Mo₂C/SiO₂>Mo₂C/TiO₂, and calcination of the oxide precursor for short periods was found to be beneficial to the catalyst stability. Although the support appears to play no beneficial role in the methane dry reforming reaction, the alumina-supported material was stable for long periods of time; this may be important for the production of pelletised industrial catalysts. The evidence suggests that the differences in the stabilities may be due to interaction at the precursor stage between MoO₃ and the support, while catalyst deactivation is due to oxidation of the carbide to MoO₂, which is inactive for methane dry reforming.