Sorption-Enhanced Steam Reforming of Glycerol for Hydrogen Production over a NiO/NiAl2O4 Catalyst and Li2ZrO3-Based Sorbent

This paper describes the synthesis and application of a NiO/NiAl2O4 catalyst and Li2ZrO3-based sorbent in sorption-enhanced glycerol steam reforming. A NiO/NiAl2O4 catalyst was prepared by an incipient wetness impregnation and co-precipitation method using a rising pH technique, and the NiAl2O4 crystalline spinel in the catalyst was formed under a high calcination temperature of 900 degrees C. The K-doped Li2ZrO3 sorbent was prepared by the solid-state method. The synthesized catalyst and sorbent were evaluated for H-2 production and CO2 removal, respectively. Sorption-enhanced reforming (SER) hydrogen production possessing high initial H-2 purity with CO2 removal was carried out during a multi-cycle reaction/regeneration process under 550 degrees C and a steam/carbon ratio of 3. CO2 sorption capacity of the Li2ZrO3 sorbent was decreased with an increasing cycle number in SER. A kinetic model was proposed to understand the isothermal kinetics for multi-cycle SER CO2 sorption over a K-Li2ZrO3 sorbent, and the breakthrough curves for each cycle were fitted on the basis of the derived kinetic parameters.