Microkinetic modeling and analysis of ethanol partial oxidation and reforming reaction pathways on platinum at short contact times

In this work, a novel microkinetic model for ethanol partial oxidation and reforming on platinum (Pt) is developed and validated with minimal parameter tuning against experimental data at short contact times. Mechanistic analysis of the surface chemistry indicates the presence of up to four reaction zones over the length of the catalyst, viz., (i) ethanol dehydration and oxidation, (ii) transition from ethanol oxidation to dry reforming, (iii) dry reforming of ethanol, and (iv) dry and steam reforming of methane. As the majority of the catalyst is dominated by dry reforming conditions, additional validation of the microkinetic model is carried out with methane dry reforming experiments on Pt/Al2O3. The proposed microkinetic model for ethanol partial oxidation and reforming is able to predict the dry reforming data without further adjustment of kinetic parameters.

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► A microkinetic model with 100 elementary steps is developed for ethanol partial oxidation and reforming on platinum.
► The mechanism is validated against experimental data with minimal parameter tuning.
► Reaction path analysis reveals up to four zones of distinct chemistries over the catalyst length.