Catalytic steam reforming of tar derived from steam gasification of sunflower stalk over ethylene glycol assisting prepared Ni/MCM-41

• Ni/MCM-41 was prepared by EG-assisted co-impregnation method.
• EG-assisted co-impregnation method resulted in Ni particles well dispersed on MCM-41.
• Ni/MCM-41-EG catalyst had high catalytic activity for tar reforming.
• The highest H2 gas yield was obtained when using 20 wt.% Ni/MCM-41-EG.
• The catalysts were reused up to 5 cycles without any serious deactivation.

Ethylene glycol (EG) assisted impregnation of nickel catalyst on MCM-41 (Ni/MCM-41-EG) was performed and applied for steam reforming of tar derived from biomass. The catalyst was characterized by SEM–EDX, BET, XRD, and TPR. It is found that smaller nickel particles were well dispersed on MCM-41 and better catalytic activity was shown for the Ni/MCM-41-EG when compared with the catalyst of Ni/MCM-41 prepared by using the conventional impregnation method. H2 yield increased approximately 8% when using 20 wt.% Ni/MCM-41-EG instead of 20 wt.% Ni/MCM-41 for the steam reforming of tar derived from sunflower stalk. The catalyst reusability was also tested up to five cycles, and no obvious activity reduction was observed. It indicates that EG assisted impregnation method is a good way to prepare metal loaded porous catalyst with high catalytic activity, high loading amount and long-term stability for the tar reforming.

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