Aqueous phase reforming of glycerol over nanosize Cu-Ni catalysts.

In this work, hydrogen production from glycerol by aqueous phase reforming (APR) is studied by using nanosize Ni-Cu catalysts supported on LaAlO3 perovskite in order to investigate the effects of the copper loading amount and the reaction conditions. Nanosize copper-promoted nickel-based catalysts were prepared by the precipitation method. The structure of the nanosize catalysts is characterized by XRD analysis. The surface area, morphology, dispersion and reducibility of the nanosize catalysts is examined by BET, TEM and TPR, respectively. It was found that 15Ni-5Cu/LaAlO3 catalyst showed the highest glycerol conversion and hydrogen selectivity. The highest activity found in the 15Ni-5Cu/LaAlO3 was attributed to it having the proper copper loading amount. It also has the lowest metal crystal size and the highest surface area, which have an effect on the catalytic activity and hydrogen selectivity. The 15Ni-5Cu/LaAlO3 catalyst showed the best performance for hydrogen production at a reaction temperature of 250 degrees C, a reaction pressure of 20 bar and a feed rate of 5 ml/h.