Catalytic Studies of Reforming of Oxygenates

Aqueous phase catalytic reforming is a promising technology for the production of hydrogen from biomass feedstocks.  Challenges arise from intrinsic properties of biomass processes such as low thermal stability of reactants and support stability. To rationally design catalysts for biomass conversion to fuels and chemicals, a fundamental understanding of surface processes must be linked to reactor scale performance.   Previous studies under ultrahigh vacuum conditions have found that the reforming activity was higher for Ni/Pt than either monometallic Pt or Ni.  The objective of this work is to correlate these findings with supported catalysts under aqueous phase reforming conditions.  Using ethylene glycol as a model biomass compound, the aqueous phase reforming of ethylene glycol was studied on Pt/γ-Al₂O₃, Ni/γ-Al₂O₃, and NiPt /γ-Al₂O₃ in a packed bed reactor. Under the experimental conditions used, the Ni catalyst deactivates quickly.  The bimetallic catalyst NiPt /γ-Al₂O₃ exhibited higher activity than the monometallic Pt catalyst, which is in agreement with literature.  The catalysts have been characterized using chemisorption, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (EXAFS).