Hydrogen production from simulated hot coke oven gas by catalytic reforming over Ni/Mg(Al)O catalysts

Abstract

Hydrogen production by catalytic reforming of simulated hot coke oven gas (HCOG) with toluene as a model tar compound was investigated in a fixed bed reactor over Ni/Mg(Al)O catalysts. The catalysts were prepared by a homogeneous precipitation method using urea hydrolysis and characterized by ICP, BET, XRD, TPR, TEM and TG. XRD showed that the hydrotalcite type precursor after calcination formed (Ni, Mg)Al 2O 4 spinel and Ni-Mg-O solid solution structure. TPR results suggested that the increase in Ni/Mg molar ratio gave rise to the decrease in the reduction temperature of Ni 2+ to Ni 0 on Ni/Mg(Al)O catalysts. The reaction results indicated that toluene and CH 4 could completely be converted to H 2 and CO in the catalytic reforming of the simulated HCOG under atmospheric pressure and the amount of H 2 in the reaction effluent gas was about 4 times more than that in original HCOG. The catalysts with lower Ni/Mg molar ratio showed better catalytic activity and resistance to coking, which may become promising catalysts in the catalytic reforming of HCOG.