Catalytic glycerol steam reforming for hydrogen production

Hydrogen production from glycerol by steam reforming combine two major advantages: (i) using glycerol as raw material add value to this by product of bio-diesel production which is obtained in large quantities around the world and have a very limited utilization now, and (ii) by implication of water molecules in the reaction the efficiency of hydrogen generation is increased as each mol of glycerol produces 7 mol of H₂. In this work we present the results obtained in the process of steam reforming of glycerol on Ni/Al₂O₃. The catalyst was prepared by wet impregnation method and characterized through different methods: N₂ adsorption-desorption, XRD, TPR. The catalytic study was performed in a stainless steel tubular reactor at atmospheric pressure by varying the reaction conditions: steam/carbon ratio (1-9), gas flow (35 ml/min -133 ml/min), temperature (450-650°C). The gaseous fraction of the reaction products contain: H₂, CH₄, CO, CO₂. The optimum reaction conditions as resulted from this study are: temperature 550°C, Gly:H₂O ratio 9:1 and Ar flow 133 ml/min. In these conditions the glycerol conversion to gaseous products was 43% and the hydrogen yield was 30%