Sol-gel-generated La₂NiO₄ for CH₄/CO ₂ reforming

A stable La₂NiO₄ catalyst active in CH ₄/CO₂ reforming has been prepared by a sol-gel method. The catalyst was characterized by techniques such as XRD, BET, TPR and TG/DTG. The results show that the conversions of CH₄ and CO₂ in CH₄/CO₂ reforming over this catalyst are significantly higher than those over a Ni/La₂O₃ catalyst prepared by wet impregnation and those over a La₂NiO₄/γ-Al ₂O₃ catalyst. The TG/DTG outcome confirmed that the amount of carbon deposition observed in the former case was less than that observed in the latter two cases, a phenomenon attributable to the uniform dispersion of nanoscale Ni particles in the sol-gel-generated La ₂NiO₄ catalyst.