Catalytic deactivation on methane steam reforming catalysts. 2. Kinetic study

The kinetics of methane steam reforming reaction over an alumina-supported nickel catalyst was investigated at a temperature range of 640-740/sup 0/C in a flow reactor at atmospheric pressure. The experiments were performed varying the inlet concentration of methane, hydrogen, and water. A kinetic scheme of the Houghen-Watson type was satisfactorily proposed assuming the dissociative adsorption of CH/sub 4/ as the rate-limiting step, but this kinetic scheme can be easily replaced by a first-order kinetics (r/sub CH/4/sub / = kapparho/sub CH/4/sub /) for engineering purposes. Catalyst activation with H/sub 2/ and N/sub 2/ mixtures or with the reactant mixture results in the same extent of reaction.