Efficient Waste to Energy Conversion Based on Co-CeO2 Catalyzed Water-Gas Shift Reaction

Waste to energy technology is attracting attention to overcome the upcoming environmental and energy issues. One of the key-steps is the water-gas shift (WGS) reaction, which can convert the waste-derived synthesis gas (H-2 and CO) to pure hydrogen. Co-CeO2 catalysts were synthesized by the different methods to derive the optimal synthetic method and to investigate the effect of the preparation method on the physicochemical characteristics of Co-CeO2 catalysts in the high-temperature water-gas shift (HTS) reaction. The Co-CeO2 catalyst synthesized by the sol-gel method featured a strong metal to support interaction and the largest number of oxygen vacancies compared to other catalysts, which affects the catalytic activity. As a result, the Co-CeO2 catalyst synthesized by the sol-gel method exhibited the highest WGS activity among the prepared catalysts, even in severe conditions (high CO concentration: similar to 38% in dry basis and high gas hourly space velocity: 143,000 h(-1)).