Steam reforming of Glycerol over Ni/Mg/ γ-Al2O3

MARIA L DIEUZEIDE; NORMA AMADEO.

CANCUN

Congreso; XXI International Materials Research Congress Cancun- Mexico- 12 al 17 de agosto de 2012; 2012

Sociedad Mejicana de Materiales

In the last years the production of synthesis gas and hydrogen from glycerol steam reforming is being considered as a viable alternative in order to increase the profitability of the oils transesterification process for the production of biodiesel [1-4]. The global reaction that describes the steam reforming of glycerol is: C3H8O3+3H2 O↔3CO2+7H2 which is strongly endothermic. Catalysts based on nickel are widely used for the steam reforming of hydrocarbons and alcohols [4-6]. However, nickel catalysts supported on ɣ-Al2O3 are deactivated in this process as a consequence of carbon formation over the acid sites of alumina and by sintering of the metallic phase due to the low thermal stability of alumina [3]. In order to minimize the deactivation of the catalyst, the promotion of the support with an alkaline earth metal (MgO, CaO, …) is proposed since they favor the steam adsorption capacity, the thermal stability of Ni and confer some basic character to the support.[7-8]. Catalysts have been prepared by incipient wetness impregnation method; analyzing the effect of the calcination temperature of the modified support and the calcination temperature of the catalysts and the Mg content. Catalysts were characterized by temperature programmed reduction, (TPR), x-ray diffraction (DRX) and BET surface area. All catalysts were tested for this reaction in a fixed bed reactor.