Hydrogen production through auto-thermal reforming of bio-ethanol over Co-based catalysts: effect of iron in Co/Al2O3 catalysts

Auto-thermal reforming (ATR) of bio-ethanol is a promising process for hydrogen production, which can lead to the possibility of directly using low concentration ethanol from fermentation plants without going through the energy-consuming distillation and dehydration processes, saving both energy and cost. Co-based catalysts are active for hydrogen production in ATR, where the hydrogen yield and stability are important factors to be considered. To address the concerns of selectivity and deactivation, iron was introduced into Co-based catalysts via wet-impregnation. The catalysts were characterized with TPR, XRD, XPS, and Raman spectra, and tested in ATR of ethanol. The XPS, XRD, and TPR results show that with iron-promotion, more Co metal is obtained over the catalyst surface, which remains stable during the oxidative atmosphere of ATR. Meanwhile, iron promotes the ethanol dehydrogenation pathway in ATR reactions. This synergic effect contributes to the higher activity and stability of Co-based catalysts in the ATR process: A higher hydrogen yield remains around 3.13 mol H2/mol EtOH at 600 °C and stays stable in a 30-h test.