Ethanol oxidative steam reforming over Rh(1%)/MgAl2O4/Al2O3 catalyst.

C. GRASCHINSKY; J. LUPIANO CONTRERAS; AMADEO N.; LABORDE M.

INDUSTRIAL & ENGINEERING CHEMICAL RESEARCH

AMER CHEMICAL SOC

Lugar: Washington; Año: 2014 vol. 53 p. 15348 - 15356

0888-5885

A rhodium based catalyst was prepared by wet impregnation method. The general catalyst formula is Rh(1%)MgAl2O4/Al2O3. The ethanol oxidative steam reforming reaction was studied over this catalyst. Oxygen to ethanol ratio (Ro = 0-1.2), space time (τEt = 15-45 gcat.min/molEt) and temperature (T = 673-873K) were varied in order to determinate the reaction scheme. A reaction network of six reactions was found: ethanol dehydrogenation, ethanol oxidation, acetaldehyde decomposition, water gas shift, methane steam reforming and hydrogen oxidation. The obtained results suggest that the oxidation reactions predominate in the first part of the reactor and at low temperatures.Additionally, carbon formation was studied in the absence and presence of oxygen in the feed. Spentcatalysts were investigated using temperature programmed oxidation (TPO) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The amount of carbon formed was found to be very low, which is consistent with the catalyst?s high stability. Findings show that should one desire to operate with a null net heat of reaction, it is convenient to operate at temperatures near 860K and with an oxygen to ethanol molar ratio near 0.7.