CO2 Recycling into Methane and Water over Stable Selective Catalyst Ni/CeO2-nanorods

Carbon dioxide collected from outdoor atmosphere or produced in aerospace cabin, may be recycled to produce methane and water by methanation reaction (Sabatier reaction). This reaction needs a heterogeneous catalyst to decrease the reaction temperature and increase the selectivity. A proper catalyst for in-situ CO
₂
recycling into methane requires: i) high CO
₂
conversion with high CH
₄
selectivity at low operating temperature, ii) high stability towards degradation, being required that catalyst remains highly active during the entire production process. This paper presents a preliminary study of a catalyst based on Ni supported on cerium oxide, prepared by one-pot hydrothermal method, leading to a nanorod morphology with high and uniform nickel dispersion. Morphology and chemical properties of the material were characterized by BET, H
₂
-TPR, XRD and FE-SEM/EDS. The catalyst was tested in a flow system at atmospheric pressure, using reagents with stoichiometric ratio (CO
₂
:H
₂
=1:4) or enriched in hydrogen. The Ni/r-CeO
₂
catalyst showed high stability over time on stream, in oxidizing condition and after switch off-switch on test.