Co-reforming of methanol and glycerol with steam: Interaction of the reaction intermediates for aiding gasification of precursors of coke

Abstract

Glycerol is an important product in manufacturing biodiesel, which could be used as a feedstock for producing hydrogen. However, glycerol and its derived intermediates tends to polymerize under the conditions of steam reforming. In this study, adding methanol as a co-reactant in steam reforming of glycerol with Ni/KIT-6 catalyst for generating oxygen-rich intermediates to tackle forming polymeric coke from glycerol by polymerization reactions. The results indicated that the interaction of the intermediates formed from methanol with the ones from glycerol enhanced the overall reactivity of glycerol towards steam reforming. Adding methanol facilitated forming hydroxyl group and the absorbed *CO2, promoting the gasification of coke precursors like CHx* species. The reaction intermediates with CO or C–O–C functionalities were also suppressed to form, minimizing their polymerization to polymeric coke. Via this, the formation of coke from glycerol or its derived reaction intermediates was effectively suppressed while the catalytic activity was enhanced. In addition, methanol presence led to the formation of mainly the catalytic coke of much higher thermal stability and less aliphatic nature with the morphology of carbon nanotube of thick walls.