ΔΗΜΟΣΙΕΥΣΗ - CATALYSTS

Title:    Nickel supported on AlCeO3 as a highly selective and stable catalyst for hydrogen production via the glycerol steam reforming reaction [view paper]

 

Journal: Catalysts 9 (2019) Article 411.

 

Authors: Nikolaos D. Charisiou1, Georgios I. Siakavelas1, Binlin Dou2, Victor Sebastian3,4, Steven J. Hinder5, Mark A. Baker5, Kyriaki Polychronopoulou6,7,*, Maria A. Goula1,*

 

Affiliations:

1Laboratory of Alternative Fuels and Environmental Catalysis (LAFEC), Department of Environmental and Pollution Control Engineering, Western Macedonia University of Applied Sciences, GR-50100, Greece; 

2School of Energy and Power Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China;

3Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department, Instituto de Nanociencia de Aragón (INA) and Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Aragón (ICMA), Universidad de Zaragoza-CSIC, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain;

4Networking Research Center on Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine, CIBERBBN, 28029 Madrid, Spain;

5The Surface Analysis Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 4DL, UK; 

6Department of Mechanical Engineering, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, P.O. Box 127788, UAE;

7Center for Catalysis and Separation, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, P.O. Box 127788, UAE;

 

Abstract

In this study, a critical comparison between two low metal (Ni) loading catalysts is presented, namely Ni/Al2O3 and Ni/AlCeO3 for the glycerol steam reforming (GSR) reaction. The surface and bulk properties of the catalysts were evaluated using a plethora of techniques, such as N2 adsorption/desorption, ICP-AES, XRD, XPS, SEM/EDX, TEM, CO2-TPD, NH3-TPD, H2-TPR. Carbon deposited on the catalysts surfaces was probed using TPO, SEM and TEM. It is demonstrated that Ce-modification of Al2O3 induces an increase of the surface basicity and Ni dispersion. These features lead to a higher conversion of glycerol to gaseous products (60% to 80%), particularly H2 and CO2, enhancement of WGS reaction and a higher resistance to coke deposition.  Allyl alcohol was found to be the main liquid product for the Ni/AlCeO3 catalyst, the production of which ceases over 700 oC. It is also highly significant that the Ni/AlCeO3 catalyst demonstrated stable values for H2 yield (2.9-2.3) and selectivity (89-81%), in addition to CO2 (75-67%) and CO (23-29%) selectivity during a (20h) long time-on-stream study. Following the reaction, SEM/EDX and TEM analysis showed heavy coke deposition over the Ni/Al2O3 catalyst, whereas for the Ni/AlCeO3 catalyst TPO studies showed the formation of more defective coke, the latter being more easily oxidized.