Hydrogen Production by Ethanol Steam Reforming on Ni-Based Catalysts: Effect of the Support and of CaO and Au Doping

Nickel-based catalysts were investigated for hydrogen production by ethanol steam reforming. A suitable support was assessed among the metal oxides TiO2, ZrO2 and CeO2. Alongside catalytic testing with ethanol-water mixture, a series of characterization measurements were carried out: N2-physisorption, XRD, TPR, TPO, CO2-TPD, SEM, AAS and IC. Zirconium and cerium oxides proved to be suitable supports, even if both still suffer from coking phenomena. The effects of doping both by calcium oxide and gold nanoparticles were checked. Doping by calcium oxide prevented deactivation and highly increased the hydrogen yield. Moreover, the addition of gold nanoparticles greatly improved the hydrogen yield. The combination of the two dopants resulted in the best performing catalyst: the basic doping by CaO and the promotion of the water gas shift reaction by gold nanoparticles contributed to the highest hydrogen production.