Renewable hydrogen generation by steam reforming of glycerol over zirconia promoted ceria supported catalyst

The study focuses on hydrogen production from steam reforming of glycerol over nickel based catalyst promoted by zirconia and supported over ceria. Catalyst was prepared by the wet-impregnation method and characterized by BET surface area analysis, X-ray diffraction technique and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. The performance of the catalyst was evaluated in terms of hydrogen yield, selectivity and glycerol conversion at 700 °C in a tubular fixed bed reactor. The effect of glycerol concentration in feed, space time (W/FAO), temperature and time on stream (TOS) was analyzed for the catalyst Ni–ZrO2/CeO2 which showed the complete conversion of glycerol and high H2 yield that corresponds to 3.95 mol of H2 out of 7 mol. Thermodynamic analysis was also carried out using Aspen HYSYS for system having glycerol concentration 10 wt% and 20 wt% and experimental results were compared with thermodynamics. Kinetic study was carried out for the steam reforming of glycerol over Ni–ZrO2/CeO2 catalyst using the power law model. The values of activation energy and order of reaction were found to be 43.4 kJ/mol and 0.3 respectively.

► Ni–ZrO2/CeO2 catalysts for steam reforming of glycerol reforming.
► High hydrogen yield with low CO and methane.
► Very low deactivation of zircornia promoted Ni/ceria catalyst.
► Thermodynamic analysis of steam reforming of glycerol for hydrogen yield.