Turnover rates for the supercritical water reforming of glycerol on supported Ni and Ru catalysts

Supercritical water reforming (SCWR) of glycerol conversion data to hydrogen are reported as reaction rates, normalized by the number of ostensible catalytic sites (i.e., as turnover rates). The process was studied in a tubular fixed-bed reactor using commercial Ni/Al2O3-SiO2 and Ru/Al2O3 catalysts. The kinetic results were captured as rate equations, and the Arrhenius parameters (pre-exponential factor and apparent activation energy) were obtained. In this way, a quantitative measure of catalytic activity of these catalysts was achieved and can be used as a reference in other studies.