The Effect of Ni Addition onto a Cu-Based Ternary Support on the H₂ Production over Glycerol Steam Reforming Reaction

Kyriaki Polychronopoulou; Nikolaos Charisiou; Kyriakos Papageridis; Victor Sebastian; Steven Hinder; Aasif Dabbawala; Ayesha AlKhoori; Mark Baker; Maria Goula

doi:10.3390/nano8110931

The Effect of Ni Addition onto a Cu-Based Ternary Support on the H₂ Production over Glycerol Steam Reforming Reaction

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2018 Nov 8;8(11):931. doi: 10.3390/nano8110931.

Authors

Kyriaki Polychronopoulou^{1

2}, Nikolaos Charisiou³, Kyriakos Papageridis⁴, Victor Sebastian^{5

6}, Steven Hinder⁷, Aasif Dabbawala⁸, Ayesha AlKhoori⁹, Mark Baker¹⁰, Maria Goula¹¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Main Campus, Abu Dhabi, P.O. Box 127788, UAE. kyriaki.polychrono@ku.ac.ae.
² Center for Catalysis and Separation, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, P.O. Box 127788, UAE. kyriaki.polychrono@ku.ac.ae.
³ Laboratory of Alternative Fuels and Environmental Catalysis (LAFEC), Department of Environmental and Pollution Control Engineering, Western Macedonia University of Applied Sciences, 50100 Kozani, Greece. ncharis@teiwm.gr.
⁴ Laboratory of Alternative Fuels and Environmental Catalysis (LAFEC), Department of Environmental and Pollution Control Engineering, Western Macedonia University of Applied Sciences, 50100 Kozani, Greece. kpapageridis@gmail.com.
⁵ Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department & Nanoscience Institute of Aragon (INA), University of Zaragoza, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain. victorse@unizar.es.
⁶ Networking Research Center on Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine, CIBER-BBN, 28029 Madrid, Spain. victorse@unizar.es.
⁷ The Surface Analysis Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 4DL, UK. s.hinder@surrey.ac.uk.
⁸ Department of Chemical Engineering, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, SAN Campus, P.O. Box 127788, UAE. asifdabbawala123@gmail.com.
⁹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Main Campus, Abu Dhabi, P.O. Box 127788, UAE. ayesha.alkhoori@ku.ac.ae.
¹⁰ The Surface Analysis Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 4DL, UK. m.baker@surrey.ac.uk.
¹¹ Laboratory of Alternative Fuels and Environmental Catalysis (LAFEC), Department of Environmental and Pollution Control Engineering, Western Macedonia University of Applied Sciences, 50100 Kozani, Greece. mgoula@teiwm.gr.

Abstract

In the present study, Ni/Ce-Sm-xCu (x = 5, 7, 10 at.%) catalysts were prepared using microwave radiation coupled with sol-gel and followed by wetness impregnation method for the Ni incorporation. Highly dispersed nanocrystallites of CuO and NiO on the Ce-Sm-Cu support were found. Increase of Cu content seems to facilitate the reducibility of the catalyst according to the H₂ temperature-programmed reduction (H₂-TPR). All the catalysts had a variety of weak, medium and strong acid/basic sites that regulate the reaction products. All the catalysts had very high X_C3H8O3 for the entire temperature (400⁻750 °C) range; from ≈84% at 400 °C to ≈94% at 750 °C. Ni/Ce-Sm-10Cu catalyst showed the lowest X_C3H8O3-gas implying the Cu content has a detrimental effect on performance, especially between 450⁻650 °C. In terms of H₂ selectivity (S_H2) and H₂ yield (Y_H2), both appeared to vary in the following order: Ni/Ce-Sm-10Cu > Ni/Ce-Sm-7Cu > Ni/Ce-Sm-5Cu, demonstrating the high impact of Cu content. Following stability tests, all the catalysts accumulated high amounts of carbon, following the order Ni/Ce-Sm-5Cu < Ni/Ce-Sm-7Cu < Ni/Ce-Sm-10Cu (52, 65 and 79 wt.%, respectively) based on the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) studies. Raman studies showed that the incorporation of Cu in the support matrix controls the extent of carbon graphitization deposited during the reaction at hand.

Keywords: H2 production; Ni supported catalysts; Sm-Cu-doped CeO2; glycerol steam reforming; ternary oxides.