Glycerol steam reforming to syngas over Ni-based catalysts on commercial Linde-type 5A zeolite modified by metal oxides

• Ni/LTA with basic sites gives a high catalytic activity in glycerol reforming.
• Glycerol reforming on Ni/LTA modified by Mo–Ca–La–Mg oxides mainly produces syngas.
• Mo species decrease strong interaction between metal Ni and support LTA.
• Ni/MoLaCa-LTA exhibits a good catalytic stability in glycerol reforming.

Metal oxides-modified Ni-based catalysts for glycerol steam reforming (GSR) to syngas were prepared by impregnation using commercial Ca-containing Linde-type 5A zeolite (LTA) as support, and characterized by XRD, N2-adsorption, CO2-TPD, H2-TPR, and TPO. The XRD and CO2-TPD results indicated that the introduction of alkali and rare earth metals could modify the basic property of Ni/LTA catalysts. H2-TPR results indicated that the simultaneous presence of Mo–La oxides and nonskeletal CaO in Ni/LTA weakened the strong interaction between Ni active metal species and support (SIMS). The catalytic test showed that increase on basic property of Ni/LTA catalysts was helpful to improving glycerol conversion to syngas and inhibiting water–gas shift reaction and methanation during GSR. The Ni/MoLaCa-LTA with a weakened SIMS gave rise to the formation of smaller NiO particles, and exhibited a stable production capacity of gas with a H2/CO ratio of around 2.17, and exhibited no deactivation during 100 h time-on-stream. Although Ni/MoZrCa-LTA in GSR was rapidly deactivated due to carbon deposit after running 40 h, the spent catalyst could be on-line regenerated by calcination at 700 °C in an air flow, which could also be proved by TPO results of spent catalysts.

Ni-based catalyst supported on commercial Linde-type 5A zeolite modified by Mo, La, Ca and Mg oxides exhibits a good catalytic activity and stability in glycerol steam reforming to syngas.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide