Rapid Aging as a Key to Understand Deactivation of Ni/Al2O3 Catalysts Applied for the CO2 Methanation

We developed a rapid aging method for Ni/Al₂O₃ methanation catalysts mimicking the real aging in the actual application. The method is based on hydrothermal deactivation of the catalyst at 600 or 700 °C, which leads to a catalyst with nearly constant conversion after a much shorter time period compared to normal aging. The hydrothermally aged catalysts are characterized by N₂ adsorption, X-ray powder diffraction, temperature-programmed reduction and H₂ chemisorption. The catalytic performance of the aged catalysts is comparable to the one of a catalyst deactivated in a long-term measurement with up to 720 h on stream. The time needed for reaching a stable conversion can be diminished by rapid aging by a factor of 10. The investigations also showed that the long-term deactivation is caused by Ni particle sintering and that the support pores limit the Ni particle size.