Efficient hydrogen production by low-temperature steam reforming of propane using catalysts with very small amounts of Pt loaded on NiMn2O4 particles

Abstract

The purpose of the present work is to unveil the effect of very small amounts of Pt loaded onto a NiMn2O4 spinel catalyst on the chemical characteristics and catalytic activity for low-temperature steam reforming (LTSR) of propane. In the H2-TPR curves of the Pt-loaded catalysts, the reduction corresponding to Pt2+ → Pt0 occurred largely at approximately 200–350 °C. It is due to the high accumulation of hydrogen on the PtNi alloy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements proved that the PtNi component acted as the active species. The catalysts with Pt loaded on 40NiMn2O4/60γ-Al2O3 show higher propane conversion due to the larger metal interface area created between Pt, Ni, and MnO. In particular, the 40Pt0.025NiMn2O4/60γ-Al2O3 catalyst maintained a very low amount of carbon deposition, a stable propane conversion of 100% and a hydrogen production capacity of 60% at 450 °C, even after 100 h of LTSR.