Sustainable hydrogen production by ethanol steam reforming using a partially reduced copper-nickel oxide catalyst

Abstract

Hydrogen production through the use of renewable raw materials and renewable energy is crucial for advancing its applications as an energy carrier. In this study, we fabricated a solid oxide solution of Cu and Ni within a confined pore space, followed by a partial reduction, to produce a highly efficient catalyst for ethanol steam reforming (ESR). At 300 °C, EtOH is completely converted, a H2 yield of approximately 5 mol per mol is achieved, and CO2 is the main carbon-containing product. This demonstrates that H2 production from bioethanol is an efficient and sustainable approach. Such a highly efficient ESR catalyst is attributed to the ability of the metal-oxide interface to facilitate the transformation of CHx adspecies from acetaldehyde decomposition into methoxy-like adspecies, which are reformed readily to produce H2 and consequently reduce CH4 formation.

Keywords: alcohols; biomass; heterogeneous catalysis; hydrogen; interfaces.