Effect of alkali and alkaline earth metals addition on Ni/ZrO2 catalyst activity in cellulose conversion

This work is devoted to the investigation of the effect of alkali and alkaline earth metals addition on Ni/ZrO2 catalyst activity in high-temperature cellulose conversion. The catalysts containing 20 % of Ni and 1 % of Ca, Mg, Na and K (calculated per amount of oxide) introduced on ZrO2 surface by impregnation method were prepared. The surface properties of the investigated samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, temperature-programmed reduction, flame atomic absorption spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The composition of the gaseous products was identified using gas chromatography. The performed studies demonstrated that introduction of alkali and alkaline earth metals on the surface of nickel catalyst resulted in the considerable increase in the production of hydrogen in comparison with Ni/ZrO2 reference sample. The highest hydrogen yield was formed in the presence of the catalyst modified by calcium.