High tolerance to coke deposition in methane steam reforming for yttria-stabilized zirconia catalyst-supported nickel by electroless plating

The objective of this study was to develop a yttria-stabilized zirconia catalyst-supported nickel (Ni/YSZ) with high tolerance to coke deposition during methane steam reforming (MSR). The Ni/YSZ catalyst prepared by an electroless plating method (Ni(el)/YSZ) exhibited better stability during the MSR than did the catalyst prepared by a conventional impregnation method (Ni(im)/YSZ). Additionally, the amount of coke deposition on the Ni(el)/YSZ catalyst was lower than that on the Ni(im)/YSZ catalyst. By thermal treating the Ni(el)/YSZ catalyst in a nitrogen atmosphere before the reforming reaction, a further decrease in the deposited coke amount was observed. In particular, the deposited coke was not detected at all over the Ni(el)/YSZ catalyst pretreated at 1073 K for 2 h.