A kinetic study of ethanol steam reforming using a nickel based catalyst

Abstract

A kinetic study of ethanol steam reforming to produce hydrogen within the region of kinetic rate control was carried out. A Ni(II)-Al(III) lamellar double hydroxide as catalyst precursor was used. H2, CO, CO2 and CH4 were obtained as products. Using the Langmuir/Hinshelwood (L/H) approach, two kinetic models were proposed. The first was a general model including four reactions, two of them corresponding to ethanol steam reforming and the other two to methane steam reforming. When high temperatures and/or high water/ethanol feed ratios were used, the system could be reduced to two irreversible ethanol steam reforming reactions.