Production of Hydrogen by Steam Reforming of Glycerol on Nickel Catalyst

BUFFONI IVANA; POMPEO FRANCISCO; GUZMAN PERICONE ADRIAN; GONZALEZ JUAN CARLOS; NORA NICHIO

Madrid, España

Simposio; Catalysis for clean energy and sustainable chemistry (CCESC) 2008; 2008

The decrease of petroleum reserves forces to the industrialized society to develop more effective technologies to use biomass resources. These resources are abundant and available to provide new energy sources and chemical intermediates. As a new alternative, glycerol can be converted catalytically into a gaseous mixture of H2 and CO (syngas), which leads to the production of fuels and chemicals. The glycerol used can be sourced from waste glycerol streams that are currently generated as by products from the production of biodiesel. In the present work, Ni catalysts prepared on a-Al2O3 supports modified by addition of ZrO2 and CeO2 oxides are studied. Activity and stability were evaluated in steam reforming reaction of glycerol at temperatures from 450 to 600ºC and atmospheric pressure. Catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), temperature programmed reduction (TPR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), measurements of superficial area by H2 chemisorption. Carbon deposits produced were quantified by temperature-programmed-oxidation (TPO/TGA).