Investigating the performance of Ni/Al2O3-ZrO2 thin film nanocatalysts synthesized by pvd method for methane dry reforming

• The use of the thin-layered catalyst formation method and its application in microchannel reactor has led to an improvement in the performance of DRM. • Applying a thin film of catalyst over the microchannels significantly reduces catalyst consumption. • The use of a small amount of catalyst (about 12 mg) in a short period (about 4 minutes) to form the catalyst can be an advantage of this method. • Increasing deposition time results in a more uniform morphology and smaller size particles. • Raising the deposition time (t) results in decreasing the process of catalyst deactivation. The current study aimed to improve dry reforming of methane (DRM) through forming catalyst as a thin film. To this end, the Ni catalyst was deposited on an Al 2 O 3 -ZrO 2 support via physical vapor deposition, which is a technique for coating in vacuum. Using this technique, the catalyst was coated on stainless steel plates as the substrate in a microchannel reactor. Moreover, with the aim of increasing adhesion and reducing the thickness of catalytic particles, high levels of energy in short coating times were applied. Also, to examine the DRM, a mixture of feedstock gases, including methane, carbon dioxide, and helium were used with ratios of 1:1:8 as well as a flow rate of 10 mL/min, at various temperatures (ranging from 700-800 °C) and different coating times (ranging from 1- 4 min). The maximal performance was recorded for the coating time of 4 min and the operational temperature of 800 °C. As the flow rate of the inlet feedstock to the microchannel reactor declined and the gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) was equal to 33600 (mL g -1 .h -1 ), the experimental equilibrium conversion rates of the CH 4 and CO 2 reactants were equal to 90.1 % and 94.6 %.