Preparation and in situ reduction of Ni/SiCxOy catalysts supported on porous SiC ceramic for ethanol steam reforming

In this paper, Ni/SiCxOy/P-SiC was prepared as the core part of microreactor for the hydrogen production of ethanol steam reforming (ESR). The Ni/SiCxOy catalysts were supported on the porous SiC ceramic (P-SiC) by the inverse microemulsion process using the xylene solution of polycarbosilane (PCS) and the aqueous solution of nickel nitrate as the oil phase and the water phase, respectively. The morphology, loading strength and in situ reduction of the catalysts, and the performance of the catalysts for hydrogen production from ESR were investigated. The Ni catalyst particles exhibited a nearly spherical morphology and a narrow particle size distribution with an average particle size of 127 nm. The combination of the Ni/SiCxOy catalysts and the P-SiC, characterized by ultrasonic vibration for 300 s, showed good strength. Moreover, the ESR with Ni/SiCxOy/P-SiC as the core part of the catalytic microreactor showed that the ethanol conversion and selectivity of H-2 were still up to 91% and 72% after 210 min, respectively.

Automated summary

In this study, Ni/SiCxOy/P-SiC microreactors were prepared for hydrogen production from ethanol steam reforming. The performance of the catalysts and the ethanol steam reforming reaction were investigated. The results showed that the catalytic microreactor maintained good performance after 210 minutes.