Production of synthesis gas by autothermal reforming of iso-octane and toluene over metal modified Ni-based catalyst

The reforming process of gasoline is an attractive technique for fuel processor or hydrogen station applications. We investigated catalytic autothermal reforming (ATR) of iso-octane and toluene over transition metal supported catalysts. The catalysts were prepared by an incipient wetness impregnation method and characterized by N2 physisorption, XRD, and TEM techniques before and after the reaction. Many of the tested catalysts displayed reasonably good activity towards the reforming reactions of iso-octane. Especially, Ni/Fe/MgO/Al2O3 catalyst showed more activity than the other catalysts tested in this study including commercial HT catalyst. Ni/Fe/MgO/Al2O3 catalyst showed good stability for 700 h in the ATR of iso-octane. No major change was observed in catalytic activity in ATR of iso-octane or in the structure of catalyst. Since iso-octane, toluene are surrogates of gasoline, Ni/Fe/MgO/Al2O3 catalyst can be considered as ATR catalyst for gasoline fuel processor and hydrogen station systems.