Sorption-enhanced glycerol steam reforming over hierarchical hollow Ni-CaO-Ca12Al14O33 bi-functional catalyst derived from hydrotalcite-like compounds

Hydrogen production with in situ CO2 capture by the sorption-enhanced steam reforming (SESR) technology is a promising concept to reduce anthropogenic CO2 emissions. However, its practical applicability is limited by rapid, sintering-induced cyclic performance decay at high reaction rate and decarbonation temperatures. Here, we design a highly stable bi-functional catalyst with a surface spatial confinement strategy. The bi-functional catalyst has a hierarchical hollow microsphere structure, in which the shell is composed of layered metal oxides. The sintering resistance of Ca and Ni species is found to arise from the surface spatial confinement effect in which the aggregation and migration of Ni and CaO particles are suppressed by the layers. High stability for SESRG reaction with only 35% loss of sorption enhancement effect is observed after 20 cycles of repeated SESEGdecarbonation, during which H2 purity is maintained at 99%. The result shed light on the design of the stable bifunctional catalysts in the SESR reaction.

Automated summary

In this study, a highly stable bifunctional catalyst was designed, which exhibited improved sintering resistance through surface spatial confinement strategy to suppress the aggregation and migration of Ca and NiO particles, and achieved efficient SESR reaction.