Ce and La modification of mesoporous Cu–Ni/SBA-15 catalysts for hydrogen production through ethanol steam reforming

A series of Cu–Ni catalysts supported on Ce- or La-modified SBA-15 was prepared and tested on ethanol steam reforming for hydrogen production. Samples were characterized by TGA, XRD, ICP-AES, N2-physisorption, TPR and TEM. XRD analyses revealed different tendencies in the dispersion of Ce and La on the SBA-15 mesoporous support. Bulk CeO2 particles together with large NiO crystallites found on CuNi/CeO2/SBA-15 catalysts were responsible for their lower metallic dispersion and hydrogen production in comparison to CuNi/SBA-15 sample. At high La loadings (10–20%), the development of a La2O3 layer over the SBA-15 support strengthened metal-support interaction and enhanced metallic dispersion, achieving an improvement in the CuNi/La2O3/SBA-15 catalytic performance. Particularly, the incorporation of 20 wt% of La led to a significant enhancement of hydrogen selectivity (from 77.2 to 85.4 mol%) and, mainly, an important reduction in coke deposition (from 42.3 to 26.3 w/w% after 3 h of time on stream).