Characterization and activity test of commercial Ni/Al2O3, Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 and prepared NieCu/Al2O3 catalysts for hydrogen production from methane and methanol fuels

In this study, methane and methanol steam reforming reactions over commercial Ni/Al2O3, commercial Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 and prepared NieCu/Al2O3 catalysts were investigated. Methane and methanol steam reforming reactions catalysts were characterized using various techniques. The results of characterization showed that Cu particles increase the active particle size of Ni (19.3 nm) in NieCu/Al2O3 catalyst with respect to the commercial Ni/ Al2O3 (17.9). On the other hand, Ni improves Cu dispersion in the same catalyst (1.74%) in comparison with commercial Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 (0.21%). A comprehensive comparison between these two fuels is established in terms of reaction conditions, fuel conversion, H2 selectivity, CO2 and CO selectivity. The prepared catalyst showed low selectivity for CO in both fuels and it was more selective to H2, with H2 selectivities of 99% in methane and 89% in methanol reforming reactions. A significant objective is to develop catalysts which can operate at lower temperatures and resist deactivation. Methanol steam reforming is carried out at a much lower temperature than methane steam reforming in prepared and commercial catalyst (275-325 o C). However, methane steam reforming can be carried out at a relatively low temperature on NieCu catalyst (600-650 o C) and at higher temperature in commercial methane reforming catalyst (700-800 o C). Commercial Ni/Al2O3 catalyst resulted in high coke formation (28.3% loss in mass) compared to prepared NieCu/Al2O3 (8.9%) and commercial Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalysts (3.5%).Web of Scienc

Methane oxy-steam reforming reaction: performances of Ru/γ-Al2O3 catalysts loaded on structured cordierite monoliths

The in situ deposition of 1.5 wt.% Ru/γ-Al2O3 catalytic layers on cordierite monoliths (400 cpsi, diameter 1 cm, length 1.5 cm), combining Solution Combustion Synthesis (SCS) with Wet Impregnation (WI), was addressed. First of all, the physicochemical properties of the catalyst at powder level were investigated by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption (BET), and H2 chemisorption, while the morphology of final structured catalysts was evaluated by SEM analysis and mechanical strength tests by sonication. The catalytic activity towards methane Oxy-Steam Reforming (OSR) reaction was studied after the choice of the most suitable catalyst load, carrying out tests varying the temperature (500 - 800°C), the oxygen-to-carbon ratio (O/C = 0.45 - 0.75, oxygen as moles), the steam-to-carbon ratio (S/C = 1.0 - 2.4), and the weight space velocity (WGS = 34,000 - 400,000 Nml gcat–1 h–1), in order to identify the optimum operative conditions. The results showed that a total catalytic layer load (active metal plus oxide carrier) equal to 6.5 mg cm–2 was enough to achieve excellent performances, while no substantial improvements were obtained at higher catalytic layer loads. Moreover, the coated Ru/γ-Al2O3 monolith exhibited a good catalytic activity towards the studied reaction also at considerably high WSV values (till 400,000 Nml gcat–1 h–1)

Electrical and thermal analysis of an intermediate temperature IIR-SOFC system fed by biogas

n/