Kinetic Study of Steam Reforming of Ethanol on Ni-Based Ceria-Zirconia Catalyst

This article focuses on the hydrogen production from steam reforming of ethanol over nickel-based ceria-zirconia catalyst. A ceria-zirconia support was prepared via the coprecipitation method, followed by wet impregnation for nickel metal. The characterization of catalyst and the support was done. The experiments were conducted in a fixed-bed tubular reactor and results were reported in terms of hydrogen yield, product selectivity, and ethanol conversion: The effect of weight hourly space time, temperature, and time on stream was analyzed at a water:ethanol molar ratio of 9:1. Results revealed that the H-2 yield was similar to 5.3 mol (out of 6 mol), whereas ethanol conversion was almost 100% at 700 degrees C. Kinetics modeling was carried out on this catalyst using the Eley-Rideal mechanism and the power law model. The value of activation energy and order of reaction were found to be 64.8 kJ/mol and 1, respectively, for the power law model.