Hydrogen production by catalytic partial oxidation of propane over CeO2

A kinetic experimental study of the catalytic partial oxidation of propane was performed in an isothermal “catalytic jet stirred reactor” which has the ability to modify the ratio of the catalyst surface to the gas volume. The main goal of this study was to elucidate the detailed heterogeneous-homogeneous mechanism of this reaction and explore the capacity to produce H2. The catalyst used in this study was pellets of cerium oxide CeO2. Various operating parameters were considered: temperature, residence time, contact time and amount of catalyst. A hetero-homogeneous mechanism, composed of 71 elementary steps at the catalyst surface and 937 homogeneous gas phase reactions is proposed and validated by comparison between experimental results and simulated results over a large range of temperatures (200 < T < 800 °C), residence times (2 < τ < 6 s), number of catalyst pellets (0-8). The interactions between gas phase reactions and surface reactions are discussed.