Micro reactor hydrogen production from ethylene glycol reforming using Rh catalysts supported on CeO2 and La2O3 promoted α-Al2O3

• Almost equilibrium conversion was achieved by all catalysts tested.
• They were stable and active under all the conditions studied in both SR and OSR.
• Low CH4 and CH3CHO concentrations were measured and no C2H4 and C2H6 were detected.
• The 2.5Rh–20Ce catalyst was stable during 115 h under SR at 625 °C and VHSV of 200.

In this work the validation of ethylene glycol (EG) as raw material for hydrogen production by steam reforming (SR) and oxidative steam reforming (OSR) reactions was studied using microchannel testing reactors. The experiments were carried out at a steam to carbon ratio (S/C) of 4.0, several temperatures and atmospheric pressure. Rh based catalysts were designed using α-Al2O3 modified with different contents of CeO2 or La2O3 oxides as their supports. Different temperatures were tested for SR experiments (725, 675 and 625 °C) at a volume hourly space velocity (VHSV) of 200 NL/h gcat as well as different VHSV (300 and 100 NL/h gcat) at a constant temperature of 675 °C. In the case of OSR experiments, only the effect of the VHSV was studied at 675 °C. A long term experiment was carried out with the 2.5Rh–20Ce catalyst which lasted over 115 h in stable conditions. The catalysts physicochemical properties were studied by their characterization using the following techniques: ICP-AES, N2 physisorption, TPR, TEM, XRD and XPS.