(328d) Renewable Hydrogen Production by Steam Reforming of Glycerol Using Ni/CeO2 Catalyst

The catalytic activity of Ni/CeO₂ catalyst towards renewable hydrogen production using steam reforming of glycerol has been investigated. The catalyst prepared by precipitation deposition method has been found to be active and selective for hydrogen production with minimum methane and carbon monoxide formation during steam reforming of glycerol. The fresh and used catalysts were characterized by surface area and pore size analysis, X-ray diffraction patters and scanning electron micrographs. Reforming experiments were carried out in a fixed bed tubular reactor at different temperatures (400-700 ̊ C), glycerol concentrations (5-15%) and contact time (W/F_AO = 2-80 g-cat-h/mol of glycerol).Ceria supported catalyst resulted in significantly higher conversion of glycerol over Ni/Al₂O₃ catalyst. The formation of methane and carbon monoxide was greatly reduced over this catalyst. Coke deposition was found to reduce over ceria catalyst significantly. From the kinetic study, the activation energy for the steam reforming of glycerol was found to be 36.5 KJ/mol.