Abstract
The aim of the present work was to investigate steam reforming of ethanol with regard to H2 production over transition metal catalysts supported on CeO2. Various parameters concerning the effect of temperature (400–800 °C), steam-to-carbon (S/C) feed ratio (0.5, 1.5, 3, 6), metal entity (Fe, Co, Ni, Cu) and metal loading (15–30 wt.%) on the catalytic performance, were thoroughly studied. The optimal performance was obtained for the 20 wt.% Co/CeO2 catalyst, achieving a H2 yield of up to 66% at 400 °C. In addition, the Co/CeO2 catalyst demonstrated excellent stability performance in the whole examined temperature range of 400–800 °C. In contrast, a notable stability degradation, especially at low temperatures, was observed for Ni-, Cu-, and Fe-based catalysts, ascribed mainly to carbon deposition. An extensive characterization study, involving N2 adsorption-desorption (BET), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM/EDS), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), and Temperature Programmed Reduction (H2-TPR) was undertaken to gain insight into the structure-activity correlation. The excellent reforming performance of Co/CeO2 catalysts could be attributed to their intrinsic reactivity towards ethanol reforming in combination to their high surface oxygen concentration, which hinders the deposition of carbonaceous species.
Highlights
Energy is a vital element in our everyday lives, mostly generated, from fossil fuels.our continuous dependence on fossil fuels is strongly coupled with natural resource depletion and serious environmental implications, such as greenhouse effect, stratospheric ozone depletion, photochemical smog, etc
It is obvious that the addition of transition metals to the ceria carrier has a detrimental effect on the resulted BET area, which, in general, is exacerbated upon increasing the metal content
The present findings clearly demonstrated the superior steam reforming performance of Co/CeO2 catalysts, in terms of H2 production and stability, in the examined temperature range of 400–800 ̋ C
Summary
Energy is a vital element in our everyday lives, mostly generated, from fossil fuels. Our continuous dependence on fossil fuels is strongly coupled with natural resource depletion and serious environmental implications, such as greenhouse effect, stratospheric ozone depletion, photochemical smog, etc. The need for renewable energy is becoming ever more urgent. In view of this fact, solar, wind, and biomass have become promising renewable energy sources (RES). Significant technological progress has been accomplished in their efficient energy conversion, their share in the world energy mix is limited due to their intermittent character and site-dependence. Hydrogen has been acknowledged as an ideal energy currency
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