Thermodynamic analysis of steam and aqueous reforming of hydroxylated C6 aliphatic compounds

Six-carbon containing model compounds of 1-hexanol, 1,6-hexanediol and sorbitol for the reforming were employed to study the effect of hydroxyl functional group on the thermodynamic equilibrium product distribution in a wide range of conditions of temperature (300–1300 K), pressure (1–150 atm) and feed composition (H2O/carbon = 0.5–30). The increase of hydroxyl group in reactants gave rise to the increase of carbon dioxide with loss of methane in the product in the following order: sorbitol > 1,6-hexanediol > 1-hexanol, while the formation of hydrogen and carbon monoxide was mostly governed by the feed composition (H2O/carbon) and pressure rather than the number of hydroxyl group in reactants.