Catalysts Ni/Al2O3 modified with promoter Ce were prepared by wet impregnation method, and used for
CO hydrogenation to synthetic natural gas production in a slurry-bed reactor. The effect of impregnation
sequence of Ni and Ce, and the calcination temperature on catalyst structure and catalytic methanation
has been investigated. Characterization of different catalysts was carried out using BET, XRD, TEM, TPR
and XPS. The results showed that catalyst NieCe/Al2O3 prepared by co impregnation of Ni and Ce
possessed larger specific surface area, higher Ni species dispersion, smaller Ni particle size, lower
reduction temperature, and higher catalytic activity for catalytic methanation of CO than catalyst Ni/
Al2O3, or catalyst Ce/Ni/Al2O3 impregnated with Ni firstly then Ce, or catalyst Ni/Ce/Al2O3 impregnated
with Ce firstly then Ni. With the increase in calcination temperature, the interaction between Ni species
and g-Al2O3 support strengthened. Catalyst /Al2O3, calcined at 350 C, obtained the moderate
interaction and exhibited the optimum catalytic activity under the reactions of 280 C and 1.0 MPa, the
CO conversion and CH4 selectivity reached up to 95.4% and 90.7%, respectively. Further increase in
calcination temperature decreased the catalyst reducibility and catalytic performance.