Steam reforming of biomass tar model compounds over monolithic catalysts

Biomass tar was an inevitable by-product during biomass pyrolysis and gasification. The existence of biomass tar was a significant drawback for the use of biomass produced gases. At present, catalytic steam reforming was one of the most effective ways for tar conversion and elimination. In this paper, the coke-resistance Nickel-based monolithic catalyst and the Nickel-based monolithic catalyst were prepared, using cordierite as the catalyst carrier. Toluene and n-heptane were selected as two typical tar model compounds for the evaluation of catalyst performance in a fixed-bed reactor. The influences of temperature on the tar conversion efficiency were experimentally investigated. The results show that the two prepared monolithic catalysts have excellent performance for tar conversion. At 800 degrees C, the conversion efficiency of toluene reach 82% and 80.4% over the coke-resistance Nickel-based monolithic catalyst and the Nickel-based monolithic catalyst, respectively. The addition of Cerium as the coke-resistance component remarkably reduces carbon deposition tendency with prolonged catalyst lifetime.