Investigation of the Effect of Thermal Stability and Reducibility of CeMO₃ (M = Cu, Ni) in Chemical Looping Methane Reforming

Sepahvand, Hadis; Moheb, Ahmad; Zamaniyan, Akbar; Zamani, Yahya

doi:10.22034/ijche.2026.576150.1591

Investigation of the Effect of Thermal Stability and Reducibility of CeMO₃ (M = Cu, Ni) in Chemical Looping Methane Reforming

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Hadis Sepahvand ¹

Ahmad Moheb ¹

Akbar Zamaniyan ²

Yahya Zamani ³

¹ Chemical Engineering Department, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran

² Research Institute of Petroleum Industry

³ Gas Research Division, Research Institute of Petroleum Industry, Tehran, Iran

10.22034/ijche.2026.576150.1591

Abstract

The chemical looping methane reforming process has attracted considerable attention as an efficient approach for hydrogen and syngas production due to improved energy efficiency and better control over reaction pathways. In this study, two cerium-based perovskite oxygen carriers, CeNiO3 and CeCuO3, were synthesized via the co-precipitation method and evaluated for application in this process. The structural, morphological, and redox properties of these materials were investigated using XRD, FESEM, TGA, and H2-TPR analyses, and their reactor performance was examined in a quartz fixed-bed reactor under successive oxidation–reduction cycles. The results indicated that CeNiO3 exhibits higher thermal stability, easier reducibility, and more effective reversible lattice oxygen transfer, whereas CeCuO3 showed greater thermal instability and more limited reducibility. At 750 °C, methane conversion was approximately 90% for CeNiO3 and about 30% for CeCuO3. Furthermore, CeNiO3 demonstrated suitable cyclic stability, while the performance of CeCuO3 was unstable.

Keywords

Thermal stability

Oxygen carrier

Perovskite

Chemical looping methane reforming

Hydrogen

Subjects