Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Bangi, Selangor 43600, Malaysia. zahira65@yahoo.com
  • 2 Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Bangi, Selangor 43600, Malaysia. ahmedbshish@gmail.com
  • 3 Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Bangi, Selangor 43600, Malaysia. aliebshish@gmail.com
  • 4 Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Bangi, Selangor 43600, Malaysia. masrinda@eng.ukm.my
  • 5 Catalysis Science and Technology Research Centre, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, Selangor 43400, Malaysia. abuomohd999@yahoo.com
Materials (Basel), 2013 May 30;6(6):2229-2239.
PMID: 28809270 DOI: 10.3390/ma6062229

Abstract

Selecting a proper support in the catalyst system plays an important role in hydrogen production via ethanol steam reforming. In this study, sol gel made alumina supports prepared for nickel (Ni) catalysts were calcined at different temperatures. A series of (Ni/AlS.G.) catalysts were synthesized by an impregnation procedure. The influence of varying the calcination temperature of the sol gel made supports on catalyst activity was tested in ethanol reforming reaction. The characteristics of the sol gel alumina supports and Ni catalysts were affected by the calcination temperature of the supports. The structure of the sol gel made alumina supports was transformed in the order of γ → (γ + θ) → θ-alumina as the calcination temperature of the supports increased from 600 °C to 1000 °C. Both hydrogen yield and ethanol conversion presented a volcano-shaped behavior with maximum values of 4.3 mol/mol ethanol fed and 99.5%, respectively. The optimum values were exhibited over Ni/AlS.G800 (Ni catalyst supported on sol gel made alumina calcined at 800 °C). The high performance of the Ni/AlS.G800 catalyst may be attributed to the strong interaction of Ni species and sol gel made alumina which lead to high nickel dispersion and small particle size.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.