Steam reforming of ethanol to hydrogen formation: Kinetic modeling and experimental investigations

Abstract

AbstractTo derive the kinetic model for steam reforming of ethanol, the experiment tests were accomplished at vast working conditions (i.e., temperature: 300–900°C, pressure: 1–11 bar, and H2O/C2H5OH ratio (S/E) of 3–21) on the Ni‐Pt/CeO2 catalyst in a fixed bed reactor. The physicochemical properties of the prepared catalyst were investigated by x‐ray fluorescence, thermal gravimetric analysis x‐ray diffractometer, and N2 adsorption/desorption Brunauer‐Emmett‐Teller (BET) tests. The kinetic model was developed based on the Langmuir–Freundlich approach, and the proposed mechanism included four reversible reactions on two types of the active site. The values of estimated activation energy for four reactions were in the range of reported values by various workers. The kinetic model error to anticipate the responses was 11.96% and a well forecasted H2 yield compared to other responses. The complete ethanol conversion reached above 700°C at 1 bar pressure irrespective of the S/E value. The variation of CO yield in terms of temperature was very low up to 700°C. An augmentation in S/E, enhanced ethanol conversion and H2 yield, while these trends were reversed for CO yield and CH4 selectivity.