Co-Ni bimetal catalyst supported on perovskite-type oxide for steam reforming of ethanol to produce hydrogen

Perovskite-type oxide (PTO) of LaFeO3 supported Ni-Co bimetallic catalysts were prepared by citric acid complexation-impregnation method and were used for the steam reforming of ethanol (SRE) to produce hydrogen. The anti-sintering and anti-coking properties of the catalysts for the reaction have been investigated and compared with the monometal catalysts. The catalysts were characterized by using temperature programmed reduction, Xray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and thermal analysis techniques. The results indicate that the catalyst was both highly selective to hydrogen and very stable for SRE reaction. Characterization results indicated that Ni-Co was in the state of solid solution alloy. Comparing with corresponding monometal catalysts, the bimetal catalyst exhibited better anti-sintering ability and similar anti-carbon deposition ability. The valuable information indicated in this work is that based on the special characters of PTO, bimetal nano-particles can be supported on metal oxides, which should be a new and promising method for preparing supported bimetal catalysts. Copyright (C) 2014, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.