Patent ID: 8754137

Claim:
A methanation reaction process comprising the steps of: preparing a nickel-chromium catalyst, wherein the step of preparing comprises the steps of: (a) combining a nickel(II) salt and a chromium(III) salt with a nucleation promoter and ammonium hydroxide to form a gel, the gel comprising a solid and a liquid; (b) allowing the gel to digest to form a mother liquor and an isolatable solid; (c) isolating the solid from the mother liquor; (d) washing the solid; (e) drying the solid; (f) thermally treating the solid to form the nickel-chromium catalyst; wherein steps (a)-(f) result in a nickel/chromium ratio of about 98:2 to about 50:50 in the nickel-chromium catalyst; providing a single reactor vessel; continuously introducing carbon dioxide and hydrogen gas into the single reactor vessel over a fixed bed, the fixed bed comprising the nickel-chromium catalyst; allowing the carbon dioxide and hydrogen gas to react in the single reactor vessel at a conversion rate in the presence of the nickel-chromium catalyst at a reaction temperature; maintaining the reaction temperature in the single reactor vessel at about 205° C. to about 220° C. by controlling a flow rate of one of the carbon dioxide and the hydrogen gas fed to the single reactor vessel; and wherein the conversion rate to methane is about 25 percent to about 100 percent.