Effect of Alkalis on Carbon Deposition

The effectiveness of alkali has been demonstrated in more recent work. Mori et al, reforming n-butane at 450 °C over a Ni/Al203 catalyst, found that loss of activity due to carbon deposition could be avoided by the addition of 5% K2CO3 to the catalyst, the activity of which was reduced by a factor of two. Potassium polyaluminate (17 % K2O, 83 % AI2O3) has also been examined as a catalyst, with or without addition of Ni, for reforming heavy hydrocarbons (see Section 5). Komatsu et showed that the alkali ion in the poly- 

Alkaline-earth metals have been suggested as alternatives to alkali metals to prevent carbon formation,but no commercial catalyst of this type has been evolved. 

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