Ceramic monolith- and foam-structured catalysts via in-situ combustion deposition for energetic applications

Process intensification is currently a promising strategy to answer the chemical industry needs in terms of competiveness and respect of new environmental rules. Monoliths and foams have received growing attention due to their interesting specific properties (high geometric surface area, low pressure drops, high mass and heat transfer properties). Structured catalysts can operate at high space velocity simultaneously reducing the amount of catalytic material. All these characteristics are highly desirable for exothermic and endothermic reactions. The solution combustion synthesis (SCS) method is a suitable procedure to deposit uniform, thin and high-strength catalytic layers on ceramic monoliths and foams. In this work, the catalytic phase was in-situ deposited by the SCS on commercial cordierite monoliths (400-500 cpsi) and alumina open-cell foams (20,30,40 ppi). All the coated structures were characterized by SEM/EDX to analyze the morphological characteristics of the coated films; the mechanical stability was analyzed by ultrasound tests; the permeability and form coefficient were derived from the pressure drop data. The catalytic activity and stability were investigated towards Steam Reforming (SR) and Oxy-Steam Reforming (OSR) of different fuels (CH4, biogas, n-dodecane) and CO2 methanation reaction. High catalytic activity was observed for both reforming and methanation processes, following the order 400cpsi-monolith ? 500cpsi-monolith < 20 ppi-foam < 30 ppi-foam ? 40 ppi-foam. Excellent long-term stability was observed over 200 h of time-on-stream (TOS).