High temperature water–gas shift without pre-reduction over spinel ferrite catalysts synthesized by glycine assisted sol–gel combustion method

Selected metal ions (Ni, Co, Mn, Mg, or Zn) were introduced into iron oxide (spinel lattice) and the resulting materials screened for catalytic activity for the high temperature water–gas shift reaction using waste-derived syngas. The active phase of spinel ferrite catalysts was directly synthesized by the glycine assisted sol–gel combustion method under a reducing atmosphere. Among the prepared catalysts, NiFe₂O₄ catalyst showed the highest CO conversion (81%) with stability even at a very high gas hourly space velocity of 40,057 h⁻¹. This result was primarily due to the inverse spinel structure and easier reducibility of NiFe₂O₄ catalyst.