Steam reforming of toluene as a tar model compound with modified nickel-based catalyst

doi:10.1007/s11708-021-0721-8

Front. Energy

2022, Vol. 16

Issue (3) : 492-501 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-021-0721-8

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Steam reforming of toluene as a tar model compound with modified nickel-based catalyst

Omeralfaroug KHALIFA¹, Mingxin XU¹, Rongjun ZHANG², Tahir IQBAL³, Mingfeng LI², Qiang LU¹(

)

¹. State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electric Power System with Renewable Energy Sources, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China
². Research Institute of Petroleum Processing, SINOPEC, Beijing 100083, China
³. Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

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Abstract

Catalytic steam reforming is a promising route for tar conversion to high energy syngas in the process of biomass gasification. However, the catalyst deactivation caused by the deposition of residual carbon is still a major challenge. In this paper, a modified Ni-based Ni-Co/Al₂O₃-CaO (Ni-Co/AC) catalyst and a conventional Ni/Al₂O₃ (Ni/A) catalyst were prepared and tested for tar catalytic removal in which toluene was selected as the model component. Experiments were conducted to reveal the influences of the reaction temperature and the ratio between steam to carbon on the toluene conversion and the hydrogen yield. The physicochemical properties of the modified Ni-based catalyst were determined by a series of characterization methods. The results indicated that the Ni-Co alloy was determined over the Ni-Co/AC catalyst. The doping of CaO and the presence of Ni-Co alloy promoted the performance of toluene catalytic dissociation over Ni-Co/AC catalyst compared with that over Ni/A catalyst. After testing in steam for 40 h, the carbon conversion over Ni-Co/AC maintained above 86% and its resistance to carbon deposition was superior to Ni/A catalyst.

Keywords catalytic steam reforming tar model compound Ni-based catalyst carbon resistance

Corresponding Author(s): Qiang LU

Online First Date: 05 February 2021 Issue Date: 07 July 2022

Cite this article:

Omeralfaroug KHALIFA,Mingxin XU,Rongjun ZHANG, et al. Steam reforming of toluene as a tar model compound with modified nickel-based catalyst[J]. Front. Energy, 2022, 16(3): 492-501.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fie/EN/10.1007/s11708-021-0721-8
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fie/EN/Y2022/V16/I3/492

Fig.1 Schematic diagram of experimental setup for catalytic steam reforming of toluene.

Fig.2 Effect of temperatures.

Fig.3 Effects of temperatures on gas compositions.

Fig.4 Effect of S/C ratios.

Fig.5 Stability tests of Ni/A and Ni-Co/AC catalysts.

Tab.1 Structural properties of the fresh and the aged Ni/A and Ni-Co/AC catalysts

Fig.6 XRD patterns of the catalysts. (a) Fresh Ni/A; (b) fresh Ni-Co/AC; (c) aged Ni/A; (d) aged Ni-Co/AC.

Fig.7 H₂-TPR profiles.

Fig.8 XPS spectra of Ni 2p over fresh and aged catalysts.

Tab.2 Percentage concentration of Ni species in Ni/A and Ni-Co/AC catalysts

Tab.3 Carbon contents and conversion decrement (700°C, S/C= 2.5, and GHSV= 20000 h⁻¹)

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