Ethanol steam reforming on Ni/Al2O3 catalysts: Effect of Mg addition.

A. J. VIZCAINO; PABLO ARENA; G. BARONETTI; A. CARRERO; J.A.CALLES; M.A.LABORDE; N.E. AMADEO

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY

Elsevier

Lugar: Amsterdan; Año: 2008 vol. 33 p. 3489 - 3492

0360-3199

Ethanol steam eforming is an interesting alternative for hydrogen production since ethanol can be renewably obtained. Ese of lamellar double hydroxides ( LDHs) as precursors of nickel catalysts leads to higly dispersed metal particles in an aluminium structure. In this sence, a Ni(II)Al(III) catalyst was synthetizedfrom a LDH precursor  and tested in ethanol steam reforming. Although this catalyst presents high stability , acidity of alumina promotes carbon deposition from ethylene through ethanol dehydration. For this reason, in order tio neutralize acid sites, a series of catalysts was prepared by Mg addition to LDH precursors varying Mg/Ni ratio. The effect of Mg/Ni ratio in the catalyst on coke formation during ethanol steam reforming was studied, resulting in significat reduction of the amount of deposited carbon for Mg/Ni ratio higher than 0.1. Moreover, Mg addition increases the catalytic activity due to lower ethylene formation, which competes with ethanol for the same Ni active sites.