Kinetic Study of the Catalytic Partial Oxidation of Synthetic Diesel over 5 wt % Ni/Ce0.5Zr0.33Ca0.085Y0.085O2-δ Catalyst for Hydrogen Production

The kinetics of the catalytic partial oxidation (CPOX) reforming of synthetic diesel (SD) has been studied for the first time for the production of hydrogen using a conventional reactor and standard liquid feed delivery system over a novel 5 wt % Ni/Ce0.5Zr0.33Ca0.085Y0.085O2-delta (5N/CZCaY) catalyst prepared by a surfactant-assisted route. The experimental runs were conducted at atmospheric pressure, in the temperature range of 1123-1223 K, with an oxygen/synthetic diesel (O-2/SD) molar ratio in the range of 6.7-9.3 and a weight of catalyst/synthetic diesel molar flow ratio (W/F-SD,F-0) in the range of 5.28-13.21 kg(catalyst) h kmol(SD)(-1). The experimental results were used to develop a power law rate model of the form (-r(SD)) = 3.22 X 10(15) exp(-16000/RT)(NSDNO10.5)-N-2, which yielded an average absolute deviation (AAD) of <15% when the predicted rates were compared to experimental rates. The catalyst, 5N/CZCaY, was also tested for an extended period of time, and the results showed a stable performance of the 5N/CZCaY catalyst for the entire duration of the extended run (17 h). In addition, the effects of reaction parameters, such as reaction temperature, feed ratio (O-2/SD), and W/F-SD,F-0, on the catalytic activity of the developed catalyst were also investigated and used to establish the optimum operating conditions for the studied reaction.