Abstract
Spent solvents of the packaging industry are disposed of, thus representing economic, safety, and environmental issues. Steam reforming of these solvent streams can be an alternative, allowing their valorization to syngas. In this work, ceria supported nickel catalysts were deposed onto silicon carbide (SiC) honeycomb monoliths; these structured catalysts can be potentially used in solar steam reforming. Catalysts were characterized by SEM/EDS and tested in a lab-scale rig under conventional heating. Two spent solvent streams, coming from the distillation plant of the packaging industry Icimendue, were used as fuels. Catalytic tests have been carried out by changing the steam/carbon ratio, oxygen/carbon ratio, operating pressure, and fuel. The effect of the Ni content and the type of ceria were also studied. The best performances were obtained at low Ni content and by using micrometric rather than nanometric ceria as support. The structured catalysts showed good coking resistance, especially at H2O/C > 2, with oxygen addition furnishing a marginal improvement. On the contrary, oxygen feeding reduced the gas yield due to the formation of by-products being less reactive in reforming reactions. Performing the reforming process at high pressure the gas yield increased due to faster kinetics (higher reactants concentrations), higher contact times (slower flow rates), and process intensification. These results suggest that the proposed structured catalysts could be successfully applied in the solar reforming of spent solvents.
Highlights
The packaging industry market is forecasted to steadily increase in the coming years [1].the use of esters and alcohols as solvents will significantly increase
Ceria supported nickel catalysts were deposed onto silicon carbide (SiC) honeycomb monoliths; these structured catalysts can be potentially used in solar steam reforming
Performing the reforming process at high pressure the gas yield increased due to faster kinetics, higher contact times, and process intensification. These results suggest that the proposed structured catalysts could be successfully applied in the solar reforming of spent solvents
Summary
The use of esters and alcohols as solvents will significantly increase. These solvents contribute to the increase of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions, representing a crucial air pollution issue, faced by different technologies [2,3]. The solvent recovery stage is characterized by by-products, i.e., waste streams to be disposed of, implying additional costs as well as safety issues [4]. In this framework, catalytic combustion of these waste streams is proposed as an alternative solution which allows heat recovery [4]
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