Hydrogen production from steam reforming of bio-oil model compound and byproducts elimination

•A bio-oil model compound (m-cresol) was steam reformed on commercial Ni–Co/MgO catalyst in a fixed-bed reactor system.•As high as 79.8% of hydrogen yield and 96.8% of carbon conversion can be obtained at optimal reaction conditions.•Carbon elimination appears in temperature range of 400–600 °C.•Organic pollutants can be eliminated perfectly.

Highly efficient hydrogen production can be produced via catalytic steam reforming of bio-oil. On the basis of fixed-bed reactor system, a bio-oil model compound (m-cresol) was steam reformed on commercial Ni–Co/MgO catalyst. Under the optimal reaction conditions of 850 °C and steam to carbon ratio 5:1, as high as 79.8% of hydrogen yield and 96.8% of carbon conversion can be obtained during 5 h time-on-stream. The results indicated that carbon elimination appears in temperature range of 400–600 °C, and the carbon can be removed completely through its combustion in the air flow at 600 °C. By using the recycling and secondary steam reforming of liquid toxics, the organic pollutants can be eliminated perfectly, and additional hydrogen production was recovered at 850 °C. The compositions of H2, CO, CH4 and CO2 in recovered gas production were 71.5%, 3.7%, 0.2% and 25.0%, respectively. High hydrogen composition of 71.5% was obtained due to the water–gas shift reactions to form hydrogen.