Hydrogen generation from renewables. Steam reforming of ethanol and dimethyl ether over structured catalysts

C. LEDESMA; M. DOMÍNGUEZ; E. LÓPEZ; N. JIMÉNEZ; J. LLORCA

CHIMICA OGGI-CHEMISTRY TODAY

TEKNOSCIENZE PUBL

Año: 2009 vol. 27 p. 40 - 43

1973-8250

Ethanol and dimethyl ether can be efficiently reformed withsteam over appropriate catalysts for generating hydrogen.Both substrates provide a valuable example of the use ofrenewable chemicals for energy applications. At temperaturesas low as 623 K, a mixture of ethanol and water at S/C=1.5can yield as much as 92 percent H2 over honeycomb structurescoated with cobalt-based catalyst layers, with only 1 percentcarbon monoxide. Dimethyl ether can be similarly reformedat 823 K. At S/C=1.5, hydrogen yields up to 80 percentare obtained over honeycombs coated with copper-zincsupported over ZrO2. The performance of these systemsimproves considerably by using microreaction technologies,not only by increasing the surface-to-volume ratio, but alsofor allowing autothermal regimes.