Production of hydrogen by short contact time partial oxidation and oxidative steam reforming of propane

Partial oxidation (POX) and oxidative steam reforming (OSR) of propane have been studied over Rh-impregnated alumina foams in the short contact time regime. The experiments were performed over a wide temperature range (300–1000 °C) at close to atmospheric pressure. It was found that a furnace temperature of 700 °C is optimal for the production of hydrogen for both reactions (POX and OSR) in this system. Variations in the total flow rate revealed an effect of residence time on the product distribution during both POX and OSR. The production of hydrogen was hardly affected by the residence time, but an influence of the residence time on the selectivity to all other products was observed. Hydrocarbon byproducts were increasingly formed at shorter residence times while formation of partial and complete oxidation products increased with longer residence times. The Rh foam catalyst also showed promising stability under strong oxidation conditions.