Rezaei - Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran, State Key Laboratory for Heavy Oil Processing, Key Laboratory of Catalysis, CNPC, China University of Petroleum, Dongying ۲۵۷۰۶۱, China
Alavi - Chemical Engineering Department, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran
Sahebdelfar - Petrochemical Research & Technology Company (NPC-RT), Tehran, Iran
Zi-Feng Yan - State Key Laboratory for Heavy Oil Processing, Key Laboratory of Catalysis, CNPC, China University of Petroleum, Dongying ۲۵۷۰۶۱, China

Nanocrystalline of zirconia and zirconia doped with yttrium, cerium and lanthanum oxides have been prepared from an aqueous solution of metal precursors and sucrose. Metal solution forms the precursor material once it is completely dehydrated. Calcination ions-sucrose of the dehydrated precursors results in the formation of nanocrystalline of zirconia powders. The resultant powders were characterized by TGA/DTA, XRD, BET and Hg porosimetery techniques. XRD and BET analysis showed that the addition of dopants increased the thermal stability of the powders and stabilized the tetragonal phase at room temperature. The catalytic activity of nickel catalysts supported on the synthesized powders was studied in methane reforming with carbon dioxide and the obtained results showed that the addition of dopants improved the activity and stability of catalysts, which the promotional effects of these dopants may stem from their abilities to increase the thermal stability of the support.

Zirconia, Tetragonal phase, Dry reforming