Influence of the method of tungsten carbide preparation on its catalytic activity in the reaction of carbon dioxide conversion of methane

Synthesis gas is a raw material for the production of oxygenates (methanol, dimethyl ether, synthetic motor fuels and other valuable oxygen-containing compounds), oxo synthesis (synthesis of aldehydes, alcohols, acids), Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. One of the ways of synthesis gas production is carbon dioxide conversion of methane. Recently, in this sphere, much attention has been paid to the use of promising catalysts based on nanosized powders. In the present work, the catalytic activity of catalysts prepared on the basis of nanopowders of tungsten carbide obtained by mechano-chemical and plasmo-mechano-chemical methods in the reaction of carbon dioxide conversion of methane at atmospheric pressure in the temperature range 400-960°C was studied. The main products formed during the process on these catalysts are CO and H₂, which are components of the synthesis gas. It is shown that WC catalysts with a particle size of 40 nm produced by the plasmo-mechano-chemical method have a higher catalytic activity. It is also shown that as the particle size decreases from 40 to 18 nm, the activity of the catalyst based on WC (PMC) increases and the methane conversion increases more than twice. The methane conversion on this catalyst reaches 55 percent at 950 °C. The stability of the catalyst, prepared on the basis of WC powder with a particle size of 40 nm, was checked during its long operation. It was found that during 600 hours of operation deactivation of the catalyst does not occur