Communication

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Bi-reforming of Methane from Any Source with Steam and Carbon

Dioxide Exclusively to Metgas (CO2H2) for Methanol and
Hydrocarbon Synthesis
George A. Olah,* Alain Goeppert, Miklos Czaun, and G. K. Surya Prakash
Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute and Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, University Park,
Los Angeles, California 90089-1661, United States
S Supporting Information
*

separation and adjustment steps, which makes the overall

process complex and more expensive.

ABSTRACT: A catalyst based on nickel oxide on

magnesium oxide (NiO/MgO) thermally activated under
hydrogen is eective for the bi-reforming with steam and
CO2 (combined steam and dry reforming) of methane as
well as natural gas in a tubular ow reactor at elevated
pressures (530 atm) and temperatures (800950 C).
By adjusting the CO2-to-steam ratio in the gas feed, the
H2/CO ratio in the produced syn-gas could be easily
adjusted in a single step to the desired value of 2 for
methanol and hydrocarbon synthesis.

Steam reforming CH4 + H 2O CO + 3H 2

(1)

H298K = 49.1 kcal mol1

Dry reforming

CH4 + CO2 2CO + 2H 2 (2)

H298K = 59 kcal mol1

Partial oxidation CH4 + 1 2 O2 CO + 2H 2 (3)

H298K = 8.6 kcal mol1

ynthesis gas (syn-gas), a variable composition mixture of

hydrogen and carbon monoxide (with some carbon
dioxide), is the basis of FischerTropsch chemistry. Syn-gas
is produced by partial oxidation with steam and oxygen from
virtually any carbon source, including biomass.1 However,
natural (shale) gas and methane are generally the preferred
feedstocks. These are also the source for the large-scale
production of synthetic fuels and chemicals including methanol,
dimethyl ether, and varied hydrocarbons and their products.2
Methanol and its derivatives are becoming increasingly
signicant fuels and starting materials for varied chemical
products. We have discussed methanols potential role and
relevant chemistry that was developed in the framework of the
Methanol Economy in a series of publications, patents, and a
monograph.37 The current production of methanol is based
on syn-gas following a process rst developed by Mittasch et al.
in 1923 and further improved over the years by companies
including BASF and ICI.8 What is needed, however, for a wider
use of methanol are more ecient and economic ways of
preparation.
The synthesis of methanol from syn-gas requires a H2/CO
ratio of about 2.3 The most commonly used reforming
technology for methane, steam reforming, produces a syn-gas
mixture with a H2/CO ratio close to 3 (eq 1). This means that
additional steps are needed to adjust the H2/CO ratio. Carbon
dioxide reforming of methane, called dry reforming, produces a
syn-gas with a H2/CO ratio close to 1 (eq 2), which is too low
and has also to be adjusted.9 Partial oxidation of methane with
oxygen can produce a H2/CO ratio of 2, but is dicult to
control and can lead to local hot spots and associated dangers
of explosions (eq 3).10 The combination of steam reforming
and partial oxidation (autothermal reforming) as practiced
industrially produces the H2/CO ratio of 2 by further
2012 American Chemical Society

We now report the exclusive preparation of a syn-gas mixture

of a 2/1 H2/CO ratio suitable for methanol synthesis in which
dry and steam reforming are combined in a single step, called
bi-reforming.47 In bi-reforming, a specic ratio of methane,
steam, and CO2 of 3/2/1 produces a gas mixture with
essentially a 2/1 ratio of hydrogen to carbon monoxide, which
was suggested to be called metgas to underline its dierence
from the widely used syn-gas mixtures of varying H2/CO ratio.
This specic 2/1 H2/CO gas mixture is for the preparation of
methanol and subsequently derived hydrocarbon products, with
complete utilization of all the hydrogen (eq 4).
Steam reforming 2CH4 + 2H 2O 2CO + 6H 2
Dry reforming

CH4 + CO2 2CO + 2H 2

Bireforming

3CH4 + 2H 2O + CO2

Ni/MgO

methanol

4CO + 8H 2 4CH3OH
synthesis

(4)

The feed is puried when needed before being introduced

into the reforming vessel to remove impurities, mainly H2S and
SO2, which would poison the Cu-based catalyst in the
subsequent methanol synthesis step. The needed heat for the
bi-reforming process can be provided by any external energy
source (conventional or alternative energy sources including
hydro, solar, wind, etc. as well as atomic energy).
Bi-reforming to produce metgas is also advantageous in the
use of varied natural gas sources even containing signicant
amonuts of CO2. Some natural gas as well as biogas sources
Received: December 3, 2012
Published: December 20, 2012
648

dx.doi.org/10.1021/ja311796n | J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 648650

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Communication

contain CO2 concentration up to 5070%. Bi-reforming can

also be used to recycle CO2 emissions from sources such as ue
gases from fossil fuel (coal, petroleum, natural gas, etc.)burning power plants, exhaust of cement factories, and varied
industries.
Bi-reforming to metgas is also adaptable for reforming shale
gas. Dry shale gas is essentially methane (>98%). Wet shale gas
also contains ethane, propane (which can be dehydrogenated to
ethylene and propylene), and some higher hydrocarbon
homologues (eq 5).
3CnH(2n + 2) + (3n 1)H 2O + CO2
(3n + 1)CO + (6n + 2)H 2 (3n + 1)CH3OH

(5)
Figure 1. Single pass CH4 and CO2 conversion in bi-reforming of
methane over 15-NiO-MgO catalyst at 7 atm and 830 C: 100
mLmin1 of CH4/CO2/H2O with a molar ratio of 3/1.2/2.4 and
GHSV of 6 104 mLh1g1 catalyst.

Metgas can also be obtained from other natural carbon

sources including coalbed methane and methane hydrates as
well as biomass. Recent ndings of signicant shale gas
(methane) deposits considerably increased the overall reserves
of natural gas. Shale gas production is made possible by
horizontal drilling and rock fracking using high-pressure water,
chemical additives, and sand. The environmental consequences
of these techniques are still under debate.11
Preferentially, bi-reforming is carried out under 530 atm of
pressure and 830-950 C temperature, producing metgas,
which can be directly used in the methanol synthesis.12 Most of
the reported studies on dry and combinations of dry9,13 and
steam1417 reforming have been conducted at atmospheric
pressure and mostly with pure methane. In order to approach
conditions closer to practical applications, we studied bireforming of methane as well as of natural gas at pressures up to
30 atm.6,7 The reactions were conducted in a tubular ow
reactor system built specially for this purpose and suitable to
withstand pressures up to 100 atm and needed temperatures of
8001000 C provided by external heating. All the surfaces in
contact with the catalyst and reacting gases at the high
temperatures were made of alumina to avoid any side reactions
or possible deterioration of the reactor materials. Quartz, which
is often used in reforming studies at atmospheric pressure, was
inadequate, leading to coke formation and eventually reactor
clogging. The preferred catalyst used was based on NiO
deposited on magnesium oxide, i.e., NiO/MgO, which was
active and stable over extended continuous durations (320 h),
as are related supported metal oxides. The NiO content in
NiO/MgO can be between 5 and 35%. A gas feed composition
of CH4/CO2/H2O with a molar ratio of 3/1.2/2.4 was typically
used with nitrogen as an internal reference. Ni deposited on
MgO had been previously shown to be an eective and stable
catalyst for dry reforming reaction.13
Reforming is frequently aected by coking, involving the
deposition of carbon in the form of soot or coke on the catalyst
(reducing strongly its activity), as well as parts of the
equipment. Carbon may be formed by both CH4 (natural
gas) decomposition and CO disproportionation (Boudouard
reaction). The relative contributions depend on the reaction
conditions and catalyst used. The undesired formation of
carbon is, however, largely prevented by the presence of steam
and short residence times in the ow reactor.
As an example, after activation at 850 C under hydrogen, a
catalyst composed of 15% NiO on MgO (15-NiO-MgO)
showed a stable activity in a typical bi-reforming reaction at 830
C and 7 atm for the duration of continuous experiment up to
320 h (Figure 1). The H2/CO ratio remained essentially 2 and
also remained stable over the reaction time. Under the studied

conditions, the catalytic system is able to perform both dry and

steam reforming simultaneously with ease. This indicates that
steam and CO2 reforming on nickel catalyst involve similar
kinetics.1,13,18,19 The selectivity for CO and H2 were 100% and
98%, respectively. When the temperature was increased from
830 to 910 C, the conversion of both methane and CO2
increased. Methane conversion increased about 15% to reach
86% at 910 C. The H2/CO ratio decreased only very slightly
from 1.99 to 1.97. As expected, however, from the
thermodynamics of endothermic reactions, with an increase
in number of moles (Le Chateliers principle), the conversion
of methane decreased with increasing pressure (from 71% at 7
atm to about 52% at 28 atm). On the other hand, the H2/CO
ratio increased slightly from 1.99 to 2.02 when the pressure was
increased from 7 to 28 atm. Doubling the amount of steam and
CO2 (CH4/CO2/H2O with a molar ratio of 3/2.4/4.8) at 7 atm
increased the methane conversion from 71% to 85%. The
experiments were carried out in a single pass mode, but the
unreacted feed gases can be recycled to improve the overall
conversion.
When the gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) was increased
10-fold to 6 105 mLmin1g1, methane conversion
decreased only by about 2% but remained stable. CO2
conversion also slightly decreased, as did the H2/CO ratio to
about 1.951.97.
The same 15-NiO-MgO catalyst was also tested under the
studied pressures for the bi-reforming of natural gas (composed
of methane containing ethane, propane, butane, and higher
hydrocarbons). No hydrocarbons other than unreacted
methane were detected in the products, indicating that all
higher hydrocarbons had reacted. At 7 atm, again stable CO2
and CH4 conversion was observed for the duration of the
experiment (160 h). The conversion of natural gas was about
70%, and the H2/CO ratio remained stable at around 1.9. This
somewhat lower H2/CO ratio compared to the reaction with
pure methane is consistent with the presence of higher
hydrocarbons having a lower H/C ratio. The H/C ratio will
get closer to 2 as the alkane chain length increases. Whereas
methane has a H/C ratio of 4, ethane, propane, and butane
have a H/C ratio of 3, 2.7, and 2.5, respectively. Keeping the
same ratio of steam and CO2 to the hydrocarbon feed results in
a lower H2/CO ratio. However, when the amount of steam in
the gas feed was increased by 10%, a constant H2/CO ratio of 2
was obtained. The H2/CO ratio can therefore be easily
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Communication

(11) Kerr, R. A. Science 2010, 328, 1624.

(12) Methanol Production and Use; Cheng, W.-H., Kung, H. H., Eds.;
Marcel Dekker: New York, 1994.
(13) Bradford, M. C. J.; Vannice, M. A. Catal. Rev.-Sci. Eng. 1999, 41,
1.
(14) Roh, H.-S.; Koo, K. Y.; Jeong, J. H.; Seo, Y. T.; Seo, D. J.; Seo,
Y.-S.; Yoon, W. L.; Park, S. B. Catal. Lett. 2007, 117, 85.
(15) Roh, H.-S.; Koo, K. Y.; Joshi, U. D.; Yoon, W. L. Catal. Lett.
2008, 125, 283.
(16) Koo, K. Y.; Roh, H.-S.; Jung, U. H.; Yoon, W. L. Catal. Lett.
2009, 130, 217.
(17) Koo, K. Y.; Roh, H.-S.; Seo, Y. T.; Seo, D. J.; Yoon, W. L.; Park,
S. B. Int. J. Hydrogen Energ. 2008, 33, 2036.
(18) Wei, J.; Iglesia, E. J. Catal. 2004, 224, 370.
(19) Rostrup-Nielsen, J. R.; Bak Hansen, J.-H. J. Catal. 1993, 144, 38.
(20) Olah, G. A.; Doggweiler, H.; Felberg, J. D.; Frohlich, S.; Grdina,
M. J.; Karpeles, R.; Keumi, T.; Inaba, S.-I.; Ip, W. M.; Lammertsma, K.;
Salem, G.; Tabor, D. C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1984, 106, 2143.

modulated by adjusting the ratio of steam and CO2 in the gas

feed.
The activated NiO/MgO catalyst was thus shown to be
equally active for the bi-reforming of pure methane and natural
gas or other sources. The conversion of methane as well as
carbon dioxide was constant for extended periods of time in the
pressurized (530 atm) ow reactor at temperatures of 800
950 C. The reaction of CH4/natural gas and CO2 conversion
decreased with increasing pressure. This eect can, however, be
in part countered by increasing the amount of steam and CO2
in the gas feed and increasing the reaction temperature. The
H2/CO ratio can be successfully and easily adjusted to the
desired value of 2 ideal for methanol synthesis by adjusting the
CO2 to steam ratio in the gas feed.
In conclusion, the reported bi-reforming eectively converts
methane and its natural sources (natural or shale gas, coal-bed
methane, methane hydrates) to metgas, a 2/1 H2/CO mixture
directly applicable for subsequent well-studied methanol
synthesis with high selectivity. A typical single pass conversion
at 7 atm is about 7075%, which can be increased to 8085%
by adjusting the feed gas composition. Unreacted feed gases can
be readily recycled. The ecient conversion of methane and its
varied sources to methanol via metgas can also be utilized for
subsequent synthesis of varied hydrocarbons and their products
through zeolite-based chemistry12 or over various bi-functional
acidicbasic catalytic routes20 giving alkenes (mainly ethylene
and propylene) and their derived products, replacing petroleum
oil as the source material.

ASSOCIATED CONTENT

S Supporting Information
*

Experimental details and procedures. This material is available

free of charge via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org.

AUTHOR INFORMATION

Corresponding Author

[email protected]
Notes

The authors declare no competing nancial interest.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Support of our work by the Loker Hydrocarbon Research
Institute and the United States Department of Energy is
gratefully acknowledged.

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