Hydrogen production by low-temperature reforming of organic compounds in bio-oil over a CNT-promoting Ni catalyst

Present study reports on high catalytic activity of CNTs-supported Ni catalyst (x% Ni-CNTs) synthesized by the homogeneous deposition–precipitation method, which was successfully applied for low-temperature reforming of organic compounds in bio-oil. The optimal Ni-loading content was about 15 wt%. The H2 yield over the 15 wt% Ni-CNTs catalyst reached about 92.5% at 550 °C. The influences of the reforming temperature (T), the molar ratio of steam to carbon fed (S/C) and the current (I) passing through the catalyst, on the reforming process of the bio-oil over the Ni-CNTs' catalysts were investigated using the stream as the carrier gas in the reforming reactor. The features of the Ni-CNTs' catalysts with different loading contents of Ni were investigated via XRD, XPS, TEM, ICP/AES, H2-TPD and the N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms. From these analyses, it was found that the uniform and narrow distribution with smaller Ni particle size as well as higher Ni dispersion was realized for the CNTs-supported Ni catalyst, leading to excellent low-temperature reforming of oxygenated organic compounds in bio-oil.