Chemical Engineering Journal 180 (2012) 145–150 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Chemical Engineering Journal j ourna l ho mepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cej Production of hydrogen via steam reforming of bio-oil over Ni-based catalysts: Effect of support Fakhry Seyedeyn Azad, Jalal Abedi ∗ , Ebrahim Salehi, Thomas Harding Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4 Canada a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 1 June 2011 Received in revised form 8 November 2011 Accepted 10 November 2011 Keywords: Hydrogen production Pyrolysis bio-oil Catalytic steam reforming Ni/ZrO2 a b s t r a c t Nickel-based catalysts supported on zirconia (Ni/ZrO 2 ) were prepared, characterized and tested for the production of hydrogen via steam reforming of bio-oil. The effects of metal loading on the hydrogen (H 2 ) and carbon monoxide (CO) yields and the carbon deposition percentage were investigated. In order to examine the effect of support, the results obtained on zirconia support were compared to the results obtained over nickel-based catalysts supported on alumina (Ni/Al 2 O 3 ). It was found that the Ni/ZrO 2 catalysts presented higher activity than those supported on alumina for hydrogen production. The CO yields obtained over Ni/ZrO 2 catalysts were also higher than those obtained over Ni/Al 2 O 3 catalysts. A potential H 2 yield of almost 80% can be obtained at 850 ◦ C using Ni/ZrO 2 catalysts with a nickel content of 14%; whereas, the H 2 yield was less when Ni/Al 2 O 3 catalysts were employed. The amount of carbon deposited on each catalyst was measured. It was observed that the carbon depositions on the Ni/ZrO 2 catalysts were extremely high. A comparison between the amounts of carbon deposited on the Ni/Al 2 O 3 and Ni/ZrO 2 catalysts revealed that the carbon deposition is strongly dependent on the type of support. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The depletion of fossil fuel reserves and public health concerns caused by the pollution emitted by nonrenewable energy consump- tion make the use of renewable energies (such as biomass, biofuels, and hydrogen) attractive alternative energy sources [1,2]. The production of hydrogen from biomass by pyrolysis/steam reforming has recently attracted considerable attention. Catalytic steam reforming of light alkanes [3–5], bio-oil model compounds, i.e. acetic acid, acetone [6–10] and biomass tar [11] has been extensively investigated for the production of H 2 using differ- ent catalysts. Steam reforming of the aqueous fraction of bio-oil [12–17] has also been widely studied. Bio-oil’s aqueous phase, which is one of the two immiscible phases formed by adding water to bio-oil, consists of carbohydrate-derived compounds and light oxygenated compounds [18]. However, the energy yield decreases when the aqueous phase is steam reformed, due to the requirement of primary separation of the aqueous phase of bio-oil. Bio-oil itself has been employed for steam reforming in sequen- tial cracking processes over different catalysts, including noble metal catalysts supported on ceria-zirconia [18]. A slow deac- tivation phenomenon with time was observed. In addition, the expensive prices of the noble metals make their industrial appli- cations quite questionable. ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 403 220 5594; fax: +1 403 282 4852. E-mail address: jabedi@ucalgary.ca (J. Abedi). The steam reforming of bio-oil was also investigated over a nickel-based catalyst, nickel supported on magnesia (Ni/MgO), in a two-stage fixed-bed reactor system [19] using dolomite in the primary stage and the Ni/MgO catalyst in the secondary stage. It was reported that a temperature greater than 850 ◦ C and a steam to carbon ratio (S/C) greater than 12 were required for efficient con- version of bio-oil to a desired gas product. The system also had to work at a relatively low gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) to be able to convert methane in the second stage of the process. Davidian et al. [20] also employed a sequential crack- ing/reforming process. The H 2 concentration in the exit gas stream was 45–50 vol.% over nickel-based alumina (Ni/Al 2 O 3 ) and Ni–K/Li 2 O 3 –Al 2 O 3 catalysts. Kan et al. [21] obtained a higher H 2 yield (87.6%) and tried to solve the problem of severe deactivation of the catalyst in the production of hydrogen from crude bio-oil. They proposed an efficient approach using crude bio-oil via the integra- tive process between gasification and current-enhanced catalytic steam reforming. They used a NiCuZnAl reforming catalyst in the downstream process. The steam reforming of bio-oil over monolithic Pt- and Rh-based catalysts using steam reforming and sequential cracking processes was also investigated by Domine et al. [22]. They reported that the highest yield of H 2 was 70% with the Pt catalyst at S/C ratio of 10 and a temperature of 780 ◦ C. Steam reforming of bio-oil itself has been rarely investigated in a one-stage process, partly due to the experimental difficulties associated with testing of the thick bio-oil phase. The catalysts that have been used were mostly supported on alumina and magnesia. 1385-8947/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.cej.2011.11.027