Kinetic modeling of the steam reforming of ethanol for hydrogen production

• Grant number: 12/09936-6
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): September 01, 2012
• Effective date (End): May 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Chemical Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Joao Batista Oliveira dos Santos
• Grantee: Vinicius Noboru Kuramoto
• Home Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 11/50727-9 - Development of systems for hydrogen production and for the generation and utilization of electrochemical energy, AP.TEM

Abstract

Steam reforming of ethanol will be studied on cobalt and nickel bimetallic catalysts. The catalysts will be prepared by incipient wetness method by using nickel nitrate, cobalt nitrate, magnesium aluminate, zinc aluminate, and alumina. The impregnated catalysts will be dried at 120o C for 24 h, calcined at 400o C for 24 h under air. All catalysts will be characterized by: a) x-ray diffraction to identified the phases present in the catalyst; b) temperature-programmed reduction to estimate the degree of oxide reduction; c) nitrogen adsorption to calculated the BET surface area; d) transmission electron microscopy to observe the metal particle shape; e) dehydrogenation of ciclohexane to measure the active sites. The kinetics measurements will be done between 250 and 750 oC using water and ethanol ratios between 1 and 8, and different spatial times. The turnover rate and the activation energy will be determined for all catalysts. In this work, the main objective is to model the kinetics of the steam reforming of ethanol and to propose a kinetic model and a step elementary sequence for this reaction. The effects of each elementary reaction on the global reaction rate will be studied and the catalyst will be optimized.