Hydrogen production by auto-thermal reforming of ethanol over nickel catalyst supported on metal oxide-stabilized zirconia

Metal oxide-stabilized mesoporous zirconia supports (M–ZrO2) with different metal oxide stabilizer (M = Zr, Y, La, Ca, and Mg) were prepared by a templating sol–gel method. 20 wt% Ni catalysts supported on M–ZrO2 (M = Zr, Y, La, Ca, and Mg) were then prepared by an incipient wetness impregnation method for use in hydrogen production by auto-thermal reforming of ethanol. The effect of metal oxide stabilizer (M = Zr, Y, La, Ca, and Mg) on the catalytic performance of supported nickel catalysts was investigated. Ni/M–ZrO2 (M = Y, La, Ca, and Mg) catalysts exhibited a higher catalytic performance than Ni/Zr–ZrO2, because surface oxygen vacancy of M–ZrO2 (M = Y, La, Ca, and Mg) and reducibility of Ni/M–ZrO2 (M = Y, La, Ca, and Mg) were enhanced by the addition of lower valent metal cation. Hydrogen yield over Ni/M–ZrO2 (M = Zr, Y, La, Ca, and Mg) catalyst was monotonically increased with increasing both surface oxygen vacancy of M–ZrO2 support and reducibility of Ni/M–ZrO2 catalyst. Among the catalysts tested, Ni catalyst supported on yttria-stabilized mesoporous zirconia (Ni/Y–ZrO2) showed the best catalytic performance.