Nickel catalysts are commonly used in many industrial processes including t
he hydrogenation, hydrotreatment, hydrogenolysis, methanation and steam ref
orming of hydrocarbons. One of the important problems associated with these
processes is the coking of such catalysts and in the present paper a new t
echnique for measuring the coking rate in the steam reforming of hydrocarbo
ns is presented. The methodology employed eliminates objections raised conc
erning gravimetric methods which are most frequently employed in the study
of the rate of coking of catalysts. Qualitative agreement between the resul
ts obtained using both methods was demonstrated for catalysts differing bot
h in composition and texture. The new method allows a better characterizati
on of the resistance towards coking of nickel on various supports and in th
e presence of various promoters.