Carbon deposition studies in the steam reforming of methane using an equilibrated mixture

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.