Industrial-scale nanocrystalline Ni–Mo–MgO catalysts for hybrid reforming of waste to fuels
- Seok-Jin Kim
- Raghu V. Maligal-Ganesh
- Javeed Mahmood
- Phil Woong Kang
- Aadesh Harale
- Abdulrahman S. AlSuhaibani
- Qingyuan Hu
- Ammar H. Alahmed
- Aqil Jamal
- Rukaiyat Suleiman
- Husain Baaqel
- Mert Atilhan
- S. Mani Sarathy
- Cafer T. Yavuz
2026-06-25
Strategies for lowering carbon emissions from hydrocarbons and waste must overcome the challenges related to catalyst durability and the presorting of waste. Reforming low-value carbon sources with carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) offers an industrial-scale pathway for recycling waste streams into fuels and chemicals. We developed a nickel-molybdenum alloy nanocatalyst on single-crystalline magnesium oxide (NiMoCat) in pellet form on a kilogram scale suitable for high-pressure industrial reactors. Aliphatic hydrocarbons (methane, n -butane) and aromatics (benzene, toluene) under pressurized CO 2 yielded quantitative syngas without methanation or undesired oxidative by-products, such as butadiene or polyaromatics. Scaled-up NiMoCat maintains activity during long-term operation and enables a two-step process involving gasification of unsorted waste followed by hybrid reforming under realistic flue gas or CO 2 flow. A detailed life-cycle analysis of biogas-to-dimethyl ether conversion showcases a scalable, sustainable CO 2 utilization compatible with current fuel and chemical infrastructures.