Ni loading significantly affect ICCU performance. In this case, ICCU-DRM was investigated. The authors discussed the performance from two key perspectives – 1) per unit of catalyst and 2) per unit of Ni.
The following information is from this reference (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aav5077):
“The average H2 and CO yields of the material increased from 3.5 to 5.1 mmol gsorb.-cat.−1 for H2 and from 3.5 to 4.6 mmol gsorb.-cat.−1 for CO with an increasing Ni/(Ca + Ni) molar ratio (fig. S6A). However, the situation was contrary when the average H2 and CO yields were considered on the basis of per gram of the loaded Ni in the material (Fig. 4C), namely, the specific yield of both H2 and CO as derived would decrease with the increase of the Ni/(Ca + Ni) molar ratio. Such a contrary situation was also observed when comparing the change in average CO2 and CH4 consumptions (fig. S6B) with that in their specific consumptions (fig. S7). These observations can be explained by the Ni availability in the material, where the surface area of metallic Ni per gram of the material increased with the Ni/(Ca + Ni) molar ratio but would decrease once calculated as the area per gram of the loaded Ni in the material (table S3). As shown in Fig. 4D, the conversions of CO2 and CH4 could be increased to 67 and 91%, respectively, but this would come at the cost of the catalytic efficiency of metallic Ni in the material. In addition, an increase in the H2-to-CO molar ratio of the syngas produced (Fig. 4C) and a decrease in the CO2-to-CH4 consumption molar ratio (Fig. 4D) were observed as the Ni/(Ca + Ni) molar ratio increased. This is conceivable on the basis of the above discussions, because a higher content of Ni in the material will lead to more consumption of CH4 for H2 production, while a lower content of CaO in the material will result in less consumption of CO2 for CO production.”
