Fuel cell hydrogen production by catalytic ethanol-steam reforming
It is clear that the reaction network that results from catalytic reaction of ethanol, with and without steam, is very complex and involves over a dozen potential products. Reactions to avoid are any that lead to CP{sub 4} species and ethylene, the former representing a more difficult challenge for subsequent steam reforming and the latter providing what is probably the major route to carbon production and coking of the catalyst. Dehydration reactions, therefore, should generally be avoided. Dehydrogenation catalysts would seem to be most appropriate, especially since the production of hydrogen is the main goal. Copper-based catalysts have been long-established for this function so that they are commercially available and therefore lower cost. CuO/ZnO, CuO/SiO{sub 2}, CuO/Cr{sub 2}O{sub 3} or CuO/NiO/SiO{sub 2} may be the best catalyst candidates. Reaction pressures should be relatively low (1 to a few atm) and the best reaction temperature could be in the range 350 to 450 C. Insufficient experimental work has been reported to give a clear idea of the required water-to-ethanol mole ratio. The stoichiometric value of this ratio is three and it is likely that excess water, although presenting some process complications, will be necessary to minimize yields of CO and CH{sub 4}. A major new aspect of catalyst selection and operation, when comparing ethanol to methanol steam reforming, will be catalyst deactivation due to temperature. The methanol process works well on CuO/ZnO around 250 to 260 C, just on the threshold of fairly rapid catalyst deactivation. If the ethanol process is to work at or above 300 C, the present CuO/ZnO catalysts will be operating at an activity well below that obtainable in methanol-steam reformers. This means that larger reformers (i.e. more catalyst) will be necessary or that Cu-based (or other) catalysts with slower deactivation in the 300 C-plus range will have to be developed.
- Research Organization:
- Royal Military Coll. of Canada, Kingston, Ontario, (CA)
- OSTI ID:
- 20002745
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 33rd Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference, Colorado Springs, CO (US), 08/02/1998--08/06/1998; Other Information: 1 CD-ROM. Operating system required: Windows 3.x; Windows 95/NT; Macintosh; UNIX. All systems need 2X CD-ROM drive.; PBD: 1998; Related Information: In: Proceedings of the 33. intersociety energy conversion engineering conference, by Anghaie, S. [ed.], [2800] pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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