Ethylene glycol-modified CeO2-SiO2 support for Co catalysts applied in the ethanol steam reforming

Abstract

In this work, cobalt-based catalysts supported on a CeO2-SiO2 binary oxide were synthesized. The silica was functionalized with ethylene–glycol and its effect on catalytic activity, stability and selectivity towards hydrogen in the ethanol steam reforming reaction (ESR) was evaluated. The cobalt composition in all catalysts was 15 wt% and 10 wt% CeO2. The catalytic activity was evaluated at 500 ◦C in a fixed-bed reactor, feeding an ethanol/water mixture with a molar ratio of 5 in the ESR.A significant improvement in the activity of the modified catalysts was observed; i.e., 100% conversion and twice the H2 yield of the un-functionalized catalysts. The materials were characterized by different techniques such as XRD, N2 adsorption/desorption, Raman spectroscopy, XPS, TPR, TEM, and TPO. These results showed that the modification of the support contributed to the reduction of the cobalt particle size and the increase ofdispersion, favoring H2 production.