Nano- and micro-powder of zirconia and ceria-supported cobalt catalysts for the steam reforming of bio-ethanol

Ceria has a great influence on the effects of the SRE. For the nano-powder ceria-supported cobalt catalyst and for the nano-powder zirconia-supported catalysts with the cobalt-ceria active phase the yield of hydrogen formed from one molecule of ethanol supplied to the SRE process was the highest; even at the relatively low temperature of 420 °C it is close to 5.5 mol H2/mol EtOH. At the same time there were achieved: complete conversion of ethanol, very close to that of water and 92%, 81-84%, 5-6% selectivities to hydrogen, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, respectively.