New low cost mesoporous silica (MSN) as a promising support of Ni-catalysts for high-hydrogen generation via dry reforming of methane (DRM) Asmaa Mourhly, Mohammed Kacimi, Mohammed Halim, Said Arsalane * Laboratory of Nanomaterials, Nanotechnologies and Environment, Center of Materials, University of Mohammed V, Faculty of Sciences, Avenue Ibn Battouta, BP:1014, 10000, Rabat, Morocco article info Article history: Received 12 March 2018 Received in revised form 8 May 2018 Accepted 15 May 2018 Available online xxx Keywords: Methane dry reforming Ni loading silica Hydrogen production Mesoporous silica nanoparticles Pumice rock abstract In this study, a new nano-sized mesoporous silica (MSN) as support for Ni-based catalysts was produced from natural resources and tested in the dry reforming of methane between 823 and 1023 K. The fresh and spent catalysts Ni-x/MSN (x ¼ 5, 10 and 20 wt.%) were characterized by various techniques. All catalysts are selective for hydrogen production and exhibited long-term stability with low coke formation predominantly as carbon nanotubes, for Ni loadings less than 10% at 973 K. The catalytic results were correlated with the in situ generation of Ni nanoparticles which are highly dispersed on the MSN surface due to strong metal-support interactions thus preventing the sintering process. No sig- nificant deactivation was recorded along 25 h on stream meaning that the textural prop- erties of the catalysts have not been altered by the coke deposition or reaction temperature. The prepared MSN is a potential support to be utilized for hydrogen generation. © 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction Energy plays a pivotal role in global development of modern society and its current consumption is still dominated by fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas), nevertheless due to the constantly high demand for conventional energy source in connexion with the concern for the depletion of oil reserves and the environmental restrictive policies, it becomes neces- sary to look for other technologies that can meet the energy needs. Hydrogen represents a potential energy carrier that can substitute fossil fuels for several uses, such as transportation fuels and power generation [1e3]. Today, the main hydrogen production is currently generated by reforming processes of non-renewable sources like natural gas and fossil fuels [4,5]. These processes were faced with environmental constraints and provide significant CO 2 emissions that directly contribute to climate change. Green hydrogen from renewable sources using biomass- based products is one of the promising pathways to produce a clean energy, more reliable and sustainable [6,7]. Many at- tempts have been focused on the use of biogas as feedstock in various catalytic processes such as dry reforming reactions, methane cracking, steam reforming of methane, and carbon * Corresponding author. E-mail address: arsalane@fsr.ac.ma (S. Arsalane). Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/he international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (2018) 1 e11 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.05.093 0360-3199/© 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Please cite this article in press as: Mourhly A, et al., New low cost mesoporous silica (MSN) as a promising support of Ni-catalysts for high-hydrogen generation via dry reforming of methane (DRM), International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2018), https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.05.093