Silica–Magnesia Support Composition Controls Metal Dispersion and Carbon Resistance in Ni-Catalyzed CO₂ Methanation

Ni-based catalysts are widely used for CO2 methanation, but their activity and stability are strongly affected by metal dispersion and support basicity. In this study, mixed SiO2–MgO supports with MgO contents from 10 to 70 wt% were prepared and loaded with 15 wt% Ni by impregnation. The catalysts were evaluated at 250–400 °C under H2/CO2 = 4. The Ni/SiO4–MgO catalyst containing 40 wt% MgO achieved a CO2 conversion of 78.5% and CH4 selectivity of 98.1% at 350 °C, outperforming Ni/SiO2 and Ni/MgO. CO2-TPD showed that medium-strength basic sites increased from 94 to 276 μmol gcat⁻¹ after MgO incorporation, while TEM confirmed that the average Ni particle size decreased from 18.4 to 9.7 nm. A 100 h stability test showed only 4.6% activity loss, mainly due to improved carbon resistance on the mixed support.

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