Influence of La2O3 modified support and Ni and Pt active phases on glycerol steam reforming to produce hydrogen

For the last few years, the potential of renewable hydrogen as a clean energy vector has gained increasing attention from the business, scientific and political worlds, because of its use in fuel cells. In this work, the performance of monometallic (Ni and Pt) and bimetallic (Pt–Ni) catalysts and the effect of lanthana-modified alumina support in the glycerol steam reforming to produce hydrogen were studied. It was observed that the catalytic activity improved for the Ni catalysts when alumina was modified with the lanthana addition. Oxygenated hydrocarbons (OHCs) compounds did not appear and glycerol was transformed into gas components. The best selectivity toward hydrogen was obtained for the Ni catalyst modified with the intermediate content of lanthana.