Sorption-enhanced steam reforming of ethanol on NiMgAl multifunctional materials: Experimental and numerical investigation

•Novel impregnation method was employed to prepare the multifunctional materials.•NiMgAl materials have similar CO2 adsorption capacities as pure hydrotalcites.•Simulation was employed to improve the sorption enhanced reaction performance.•Experimental results are in a good agreement with the numerical predictions.•Sample has a good stability during the time-on-stream and cyclic tests.

Hydrogen production via sorption enhanced steam reforming of ethanol on NiMgAl hybrid materials was studied. A new impregnation method was employed for the preparation of hybrid materials, samples were analyzed on their catalytic properties for steam reforming of ethanol and adsorption capacity to uptake carbon dioxide for sorption enhanced reaction process. The effects of material compositions and operating conditions were analyzed numerically to improve the performance of sorption enhanced reaction process. The simulated sorption enhanced reaction process was then validated experimentally with a good agreement between results obtained from simulations and experiments. A high purity hydrogen stream (>99 mol%) was obtained during the transient period. The use of a CO2 adsorbent can improve the yield of H2 and the thermal efficiency of the H2 production process. Finally, NiMgAl materials showed a good stability during the time-on-stream and cyclic tests due to the unique features of the layered double hydroxide support.