Comparative study on the reaction of methane over a ZnO bed in the absence and presence of CO_2

The reaction of zinc oxide with methane in the absence and presence of CO2 were theoretically and experimentally investigated using HSC Chemistry 5.1 software and a fixed bed reactor, respectively. In the absence of CO2 at 1193 K, the reduction of ZnO was accompanied with methane cracking, and metallic zinc, CO, and H2 were the main reaction products. This system could be utilized for the co-production of metallic zinc and synthesis gas, in which ZnO was a donor of oxygen. In the presence of CO2, ZnO plays as a catalyst in the CO2 reforming of methane and produces syngas with the average H2/CO ratio of 0.88 at 1193 K, which was close to the total reaction theoretic value of 1. It was also found that higher temperature favored high CH4 and CO2 conversions. XRD technique was used to characterize the ZnO species. The result showed that there were no differences in the peak profiles of the XRD patterns of the ZnO powder obtained before and after passing the CH4/CO2 mixed gases for 6 h at 1193 K. It is suggested that ZnO functions as a catalyst according to the redox cycle and metallic zinc plays the role of intermediate product in this process.