Activity and structure of perovskites as diesel reforming catalysts for solid oxide fuel cells

Recent progress in developing perovskite materials as more cost-effective catalysts in autothermal reforming (ATR) of diesel fuel to hydrogen-rich reformate for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) application is reported. Perovskite-type metal oxides with B sites partially exchanged by ruthenium were prepared and evaluated under ATR reaction conditions. The hydrogen yield, reforming efficiency, and COx selectivity of these catalysts were investigated using diesel surrogate fuel with 50 ppm sulfur. The catalyst performances have approached or exceeded a benchmark, high-cost rhodium-based material. In parallel with the reactivity study, we also investigated the physical properties of B-site doped perovskites and their impact on the reforming performance using various characterization techniques such as BET, X-ray powder diffraction, temperature programmable reduction, scanning electron microscopy, and synchrotron X-ray absorption spectroscopy. We found that ruthenium is highly dispersed into perovskite lattice and its redox behavior is directly associated with reforming activity.