Ni and Co catalysts supported on alumina applied to steam reforming of acetic acid: Representative compound for the aqueous phase of bio-oil derived from biomass

• Acetic acid steam reforming was studied over Ni and Co catalysts.
• Ni–Co catalysts were more actives than catalysts containing only nickel at 500 °C.
• 25Ni5CoAl catalyst showed the best selectivity to H2 and CO2 at 500 °C.
• 20NiAl and 30NiAl catalysts showed higher selectivity to H2 at 600 °C.

The aim of this work was to study the performance of Ni and Co catalysts supported on alumina to convert acetic acid into hydrogen. Acetic acid was chosen as representative compound for the steam reforming of bio-oil derived from biomass pyrolysis. In this study alumina supported Ni, Co and bimetallic Ni–Co catalyst were prepared by wet impregnation and characterized by XRD, SEM–EDX, BET and TPR-H2 analysis. Steam reforming of acetic acid was conducted in a fixed bed reactor at a temperature of 500 °C and 600 °C. Among the catalysts studied, the best catalytic performance for the acetic acid steam reforming at 500 °C was obtained by the bimetallic catalysts, which presented an effluent gaseous mixture with the highest H2 selectivity and reasonable low CO formation.

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