Behaviour of Rh and Ni catalysts in the steam reforming of ethanol

C. GRASCHINSKY; I. LLERA; N. AMADEO; M. LABORDE

Campinas

Workshop; 6th International Workshop on Hydrogen and Fuel Cells – WICaC 2012; 2012

UNICAMP

It was carried out a comparative study of the ethanol steam reforming over RhMgAl2O4/Al2O3 (RhMgAl) and a double laminar hydrotalcite Ni/Al (NiAl). By products distribution reaction schemes for each catalyst were obtained. It was observed that with RhMgAl CO yield, undesirable product if the H2 would be employed in PEM cells, is greater than the CO yield obtained with NiAl. It was studied the reaction mechanism and was determined that in both catalysts two active sites of the same type are involved in rate-determining step. Finally, kinetic constants and activation energy were determined. Greater kinetic constants were obtained for RhMgAl. It was determined that over RhMgAl the reaction of ethanol decomposition to CO is favored; otherwise over NiAl the reaction which is favored is the ethanol steam reforming.