Catalytic Steam Reforming of Glycerol Over Cerium and Palladium Based Catalysts for Hydrogen Production

Abstract

In this work, catalytic steam reforming of glycerol for hydrogen production was performed over Ce/Al2O3 and Pd/Al2O3 catalysts prepared via the impregnation method. The catalysts were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEMEDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), BET surface area, and Xray diffraction (XRD). Two sets of catalytic reactions were conducted, one comparing 1% Pd/Al2O3 to 1% Ce/Al2O3 and the second comparing 1% Ce/Al2O3 loading to 10% Ce/Al2O3 loading. All catalytic reactions were performed using a fixedbed reactor operated at 600 آ°C and atmospheric pressure. Aglycerol–water mixture at a molar ratio of 1:6 was fed to the reactor at 0.05 ml/min. In the first set of experiments, Pd/Al2O3 exhibited higher hydrogen productivity than Ce/Al2O3. A maximum hydrogen yield of 56% and a maximum selectivity of 78.7% were achieved over the Pd/Al2O3 catalyst. For the second set of experiments, the results show that the reaction conversion increased as the cerium loading increased from 1% to 10%. A total average hydrogen yield of 28.0% and a selectivity of 45.5% were obtained over 1% Ce/Al2O3, while the total average hydrogen yield and selectivity were 42.2% and 52.7%, respectively, for 10% Ce/Al2O3.