Steam reforming of ethanol for hydrogen production using Cu-MCM41 and Ni-MCM41 type mesoporous catalytic materials

Download
2007
Özdoğan, Ekin
The world’s being alerted to the global warming danger and the depletion of fossil fuel resources, has increased the importance of the clean and renewable hydrogen energy. Bioethanol has high potential to be used as a resource of hydrogen since it is a non-petroleum feedstock and it is able to produce hydrogen rich mixture by steam reforming reactions. Discovery of mesoporous MCM-41 type high surface area silicate-structured materials with narrow pore size distributions (20-100 Å) and high surface areas (up to 1500 m2/g) opened a new avenue in catalysis research. Catalytic activity of such mesoporous materials are enhanced by the incorporation of active metals or metal oxides into their structure. Nickel and copper are among the most active metals to be used in steam reforming of ethanol to produce hydrogen. In this study, copper and nickel incorporated MCM-41 type catalytic materials were tested in the steam reforming of ethanol. Two Ni-MCM-41 samples having different Ni/Si ratios were prepared by high temperature direct synthesis method and two Cu-MCM-41 samples having same Cu/Si ratios were synthesized by two different methods namely, high temperature direct synthesis method and impregnation method. The synthesized materials characterized by XRD, EDS, SEM, N2 physisorption and TPR techniques. XRD results showed that Ni-MCM-41 and Cu-MCM-41 catalysts had typical MCM-41 structure. The d100 and lattice parameter values of Ni-HT (I) (Ni-MCM-41 sample having 0.036 Ni/Si atomic ratio) was obtained as 3.96 and 4.57 nm., respectively. In addition Ni-HT (I) was found to have a surface area of 860.5 m2/g and 2.7 nm pore diameter. The d100 and lattice parameter values for a typical Cu-MCM-41 prepared by impregnation method having Cu/Si atomic ratio of 0.19 were obtained as 3.6 and 4.2 nm., respectively. This sample also has a 631 m2/g surface area and 2.5 nm pore diameter. Steam reforming of ethanol was investigated in the vapor phase by using Ni-MCM-41 and Cu-MCM-41 catalysts between 300°C and 550°C. Results proved that Ni incorporated MCM-41 type catalytic materials were highly active in hydrogen production by steam reforming of ethanol and actualized almost complete ethanol conversion for Ni-MCM-41 having Ni/Si atomic ratio of 0.15 over 500°C . The side products obtained during reforming are methane and formaldehyde. Although the Cu-MCM-41 samples were not as active as Ni-MCM-41, it was observed that Cu-MCM-41 catalyst synthesized by the impregnation method showed an ethanol conversion of 0.83. However, the main product was ethylene with the copper incorporated catalysts. Effects of space time, the operating conditions (reaction temperature), metal/Si ratio of the catalyst and the preparation method on the product distributions were also investigated and best reaction conditions were searched.

Suggestions

Sorption enhanced ethanol reforming over cobalt, nickel incorporated mcm-41 for hydrogen production
Gündüz, Seval; Doğu, Timur; Department of Chemical Engineering (2011)
The interest in hydrogen as a clean energy source has increased due to depletion of limited fossil resources and environmental impact related to CO2 emissions. Hydrogen production from bio-ethanol, which already contains large amount of water, by steam reforming reaction, has shown excellent potential with CO2 neutrality. However, steam reforming of ethanol reaction is a highly complex process including many side reactions which decrease hydrogen yield and have a negative effect on process economy. Also, th...
Synthesis of some metalophthalocyanines and their effects on the performance of pem fuel cells
Erkan, Serdar; Eroğlu, İnci; Department of Chemical Engineering (2005)
Importance of clean, sustainable and renewable energy sources are increasing gradually because of either being environmental friendly or being alternative for fossil fuels. Hydrogen energy system will let the utilization of alternative energy sources. Fuel cells are the most suitable energy conversion devices while passing through the hydrogen economy. The cost of the fuel cell systems need to be reduced in order to achieve commercialization of these systems. One of the most important cost items is platinum...
Development of organic-inorganic composite membranes for fuel cell applications
Erdener, Hülya; Baç, Nurcan; Department of Chemical Engineering (2007)
Hydrogen is considered to be the most promising energy carrier of the 21st century due to its high energy density and sustainability. The chemical energy of hydrogen can be directly converted into electricity by means of electrochemical devices called fuel cells. Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) are the most preferred type of fuel cells due to their low operating temperatures enabling fast and easy start-ups and quick responses to load changes. One of the most important components of a PEMFC is t...
Nanocomposite nafion and heteropolyacid incorporated mesoporous catalysts for dimethyl ether synthesis from methanol
Çiftçi, Ayşegül; Doğu, Timur; Department of Chemical Engineering (2009)
The need for alternative transportation fuels is rising with the rapid depletion of oil reserves and the simultaneous growth of the world’s population. Production of dimethyl ether, a non-petroleum derived attractive fuel-alternate for the future, is a challenging research area. Different routes and various solid-acid catalysts are being developed in order to achieve the most efficient way of synthesizing this potential diesel alternative fuel. The focus of heterogeneous catalysis is to convert renewable fe...
Direct synthesis of dimethyl ether (dme) from synthesis gas using novel catalysts
Arınan, Ayça; Varışlı, Dilek; Department of Chemical Engineering (2010)
Increasing prices of crude oil derived transportation fuels ascended the researches on seeking alternative fuels, in last decades. Moreover, the increasing rate of global warming, because of high greenhouse gas emissions initiated new research for environment-friendly clean alternative fuels. Due to its low NOx emission, good burning characteristics and high cetane number, dimethyl ether (DME) attracted major attention as a transportation fuel alternative. Two possible pathways have been proposed for DME pr...
Citation Formats
E. Özdoğan, “Steam reforming of ethanol for hydrogen production using Cu-MCM41 and Ni-MCM41 type mesoporous catalytic materials,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2007.