Ethanol reforming and partial oxidation with Cu/Nb2O5 catalyst

Ethanol reforming and partial oxidation were studied on Cu/Nb2O5 and Ni/Al2O3 catalysts. Compared to the Ni/Al2O3 catalyst, the Cu/Nb2O5 catalyst presents conversion as high as Ni/Al2O3 catalyst, however, for the same level of formation of hydrogen it occurs at much lower temperature on the Cu/Nb2O5 catalyst, 200 °C lower than for the Ni/Al2O3 catalyst, with remarkable little formation of CO, which can be attributed to the strong interaction between copper and niobia. Temperature-programmed desorption (TPD-ethanol) and surface reactions (TPSR) of partial oxidation of ethanol showed formation of ethylene, acetaldehyde, ethane and mainly H2 and CO2 besides little methane. DRIFTS results are in accordance with TPD analysis and the formation of acetate species at room temperature suggests reactivity of the surface and its oxidative dehydrogenation capacity. The adsorption of ethanol gives rise to ethoxide species, which form acetate and acetaldehyde that can be oxidized to CO2 via carbonate. A comparison with reported results for Cu/Al2O3 this catalyst is promising, yielding high level of H2 with little CO production during reforming and partial oxidation reaction. The maximum H2 formation for the partial oxidation of ethanol was 41% at ratio (O2/Et) 0.8, increasing to 50% at ratio 1.5. The H2/CO is around 10 for the partial oxidation and 7 for steam reforming, which is excellent, compared to the Ni/Al2O3 catalyst with a factor 4–8 lower.