SíNTESIS DE CATALIZADORES DE Ni/ZnO/Al2O3 PARA LA REACCIóN WGS A TRAVéS DEL ESTUDIO DE LAS PROPIEDADES ESTRUCTURALES Y CATALíTICAS DE Ni/ZnO Y M/Al2O3

the use of hydrogen for power generation has again awaken the interest in the wgs reaction. the catalysts used to accelerate this reaction need special conditions of reduction. this limits their application in fuel cells for energy production. in this work, nickel catalysts-supported in zinc oxide or aluminum oxide were synthesized by using a 32 factorial design with materials containing zinc. the results were used for the synthesis of trimetallic solid containing nickel, zinc and aluminum, in the most favorable conditions to ensure high activity and selectivity. the solids were characterized by edx, xrd, tpr and evaluated in the wgs reaction at 260 °c. the incorporation of zn2+ and al3+ cations was observed in the lattice of nio. this phenomenon affects the reducibility of these materials with hydrogen. the materials containing zinc were of 100 per cent selectivity for the reaction under study. in the case of nickel and aluminum catalysts, methane formation was observed, but this species was not detected in the trimetallic catalysts. the catalytic activity of trimetallic materials is consistent with the trends in bimetallic nickel-zinc or nickel-aluminum materials. the most active catalysts were those calcined at the lowest temperatures with the smallest amounts of zinc.