Catalytic properties of NiAl foils for methane steam reforming

Xu, Y.*; Ma, Y.*; Sakurai, Junya*; Demura, Masahiko*; Hirano, Toshiyuki*; Teraoka, Yuden; Yoshigoe, Akitaka 

NiAl intermetallic compound is known as a promising high-temperature structural material because of its excellent high temperature strength and corrosion/oxidation resistance. The brittleness at room temperature used to be a big problem which restricted its practical application. We have overcome this problem and successfully developed thin NiAl foils using directional solidification and cold rolling. We investigated the catalytic activities of the cold-rolled NiAl foils for methane steam reforming. The effect of steam pre-treatment on the catalytic activities of the foil was also investigated. It was found that the activity of as-rolled foils increased with temperature above 873 K, while no obvious activity was detected below 873 K. The steam pre-treatment at 873 K significantly enhanced the activity in the temperature range from 873 to 1173 K. The enhanced catalytic activity was attributed to the fine pure Ni particles on the foil formed by the steam pre-treatment.