The aim of this project, that is an extension of the last year project, is the development of active, selective and stable catalysts for syngas (H2+CO) production by tri-reforming of methane or ethanol (CH4-TR or C2H5OH-TR).
The CH4-TR process consists of a combination of the endothermic steam reforming (CH4-SR) and the dry reforming (CH4-DR) reactions with the exothermic partial oxidation of methane (CH4-CPO). It results energetically efficient, gives less coke deposition and uses greenhouse CO2. On the other hand, the employment of biomass as energy source is gaining great importance, because it contains high amount of oxygenates, in particular C2H5OH, that should be used for the production of H2. However, the reforming processes lead to catalyst deactivation by coke deposition. The major goal is to prevent the formation of coke on the catalyst surface.
The new perspective in the field of syngas production deals with the adoption of new Ni-based catalysts supported on ZrO2 effective for the TR process, obtained with the addition of small amount of noble metal Rh promoter. Ni/ZrO2 catalysts will be prepared with different methods at various Ni (0.5-10 wt%) and Rh loading (Rh, 0.05-0.5 wt%). These catalysts will be studied in terms of structure, morphology and catalytic performances. The expected role of Rh on the catalyst activity is to prevent carbon deposition by delaying carbon mobility and nucleation process. The effect of Rh on Ni particle sizes and properties will be investigated. Materials characterization will be performed with Atomic Absorption, XRD, nitrogen adsorption/desorption, FESEM, UV-vis, XPS, TPR, Raman, and operando and in situ FTIR. The catalytic activity will be studied in a flow apparatus changing feed ratio, reaction temperature, contact time and catalyst activation treatment. Results will be analysed in order to elucidate relationships between composition, structure and catalytic performances of materials for the TR reaction.
