Hydrogen generation by oxidative steam reforming of ethanol over structured Pd-Rh/CeO2 catalysts

A. ANZOLA; E. LÓPEZ; N. DIVINS; N. SCHBIB; D. BORIO; J. LLORCA

Madrid

Simposio; International Symposium on Catalysis for Clean Energy and Sustainable Chemistry 2012; 2012

The necessity of producing hydrogen as a low cost energy vector while minimizing environmental impact has moved researchers to investigate the use of clean raw materials and develop processes that optimize energy efficiency and hydrogen yield. Ethanol is appealing as feedstock material due to its low toxicity and easy handling. Additionally, when obtained via fermentation of crops (i.e., bioethanol), an almost-closed CO2 loop is possible. Hydrogen can be generated through oxidative steam reforming (OSR) of ethanol, by co-feeding steam and oxygen, where the fine tuning of the oxygen injection balances the hydrogen yield and the thermal effects of the reaction. Noble metal based catalysts have been pointed as suitable to perform ethanol reforming reactions. Idriss et al. [2008] and López et al. [2012] reported very good levels of activity and selectivity of a Pd-Rh/CeO2 catalyst for ethanol steam reforming. The selection of structured catalysts to conduct the reforming reaction permits an enhanced control of the operating conditions. In particular, if monolithic structures are profited as catalyst support, low pressure drops are guaranteed while the modular character of the samples enables a straightforward scaling of the system. Herein, we report experimental results regarding preparation, characterization and reaction evaluation of honeycomb monoliths functionalized with Pd-Rh/CeO2 for hydrogen generation via ethanol OSR. A comparison with conventional ethanol steam reforming is addressed.