Electrochemical promotion of ethanol partial oxidation and reforming reactions for hydrogen production

Abstract

The electrochemical activation of a Pt-KβAl2O3 catalytic system is studied for hydrogen production from ethanol. The in-situ intercalation of potassium ions onto the catalyst surface under negative polarization leads to hydrogen activation and an increase in the production rate under all explored conditions, observing a reproducible, controllable and reversible effect. Under ethanol partial oxidation conditions, the ions migration promotes oxidation dehydrogenation route vs. ethanol dehydration one. Moreover, the steam addition is evaluated through different reaction conditions: steam reforming, partial oxidation and autothermal reforming. The steam reforming reaction exhibits the highest initial catalytic activity; although a strong deactivation of the catalyst occurs due to carbonaceous species deposition. Comparing partial oxidation and autothermal reforming, the latter one presents the highest catalytic activity and the strongest electrochemical activation effect. These findings contribute to the Electrochemical Promotion of Catalysis phenomenon application to operando tuning the catalyst conversion towards hydrogen production, therefore expanding its application to hydrogen technology.