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Copyright: American Scientific Publishers
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Copyright © 2013 American Scientific Publishers
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Journal of
Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
Vol. 13, 653–656, 2013
Steam Reforming of Glycerol for Hydrogen Production
Over Supported Nickel Catalysts on Alumina
Ga Young Choi
1
, Young Chul Kim
2
, Dong Ju Moon
3 ∗
,
Gon Seo
2
, and Nam Cook Park
2 ∗
1
Department of Advanced Chemicals and Engineering, Center for Functional Nano Fine Chemicals,
Chonnam National University, 300 Yongbong-dong, Gwangju 500-757, Republic of Korea
2
Faculty of Applied Chemical Engineering and the Research Institute for Catalysis,
Chonnam National University, 300 Yongbong-dong, Gwangju 500-757, Republic of Korea
3
Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Hawlgok-dong Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 136-791, Republic of Korea
The experiment was carried out to produce hydrogen through steam reforming of glycerol over
nano-sized Ni catalysts supported on alumina (Al
2
O
3
). The catalysts were characterized by BET
surface area, metal dispersion, XRD, TPR, NH
3
-TPD and SEM. 15 wt% Ni/Al
2
O
3
catalysts presented
carbon nano fiber after the catalyst was used. However, when the Ni loading was higher than that
of 15 wt%, the catalytic activity reduced, and the increase of the Ni particle size and the formation
of graphitic carbon occurred. The Ni/SiO
2
(70)–Al
2
O
3
with the high surface area and the small Ni
particle size promoted the catalytic activity and could easily reduce from NiO to Ni, inhibiting the
formation of NiAl
2
O
4
.
Keywords: Hydrogen, Glycerol, Steam Reforming, Catalytic Reforming, Nickel.
1. INTRODUCTION
Biodiesel is renewable and ecological source of energy,
because it is biodegradable, non-toxic and free of SO
x
and NO
x
. It can be produced by the transesterification of
triglyceride with methanol; glycerol is produced as a by-
product.
1 2
Steam reforming of glycerol is highly endother-
mic and is therefore carried out at high temperatures and
low pressure.
3 4
Nickel catalysts are widely used for pro-
duction of hydrogen, because of their high activity and
low cost. As the supported Ni catalysts have an important
catalytic function in the steam reforming of hydrocarbons.
Several studies have reported the catalysts act differently
according to the support. In this study, the experiment was
carried out to produce hydrogen through steam reform-
ing of glycerol over nano-sized Ni catalysts supported on
Al
2
O
3
. The effect of Ni loading on Al
2
O
3
and the con-
tent of SiO
2
on SiO
2
–Al
2
O
3
in the catalytic activity was
investigated.
2. EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS
2.1. Preparation of Catalysts
Ni catalysts supported on Al
2
O
3
with 10, 15, 20, and
25 wt% metal loading and 15 wt% Ni catalysts supported
∗
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
on SiO
2
(0, 5 and 70 wt%)–Al
2
O
3
were prepared by wet
impregnation method using nickel nitrate hexahydrate.
Nickel precursor was directly impregnated onto the sup-
ports. Catalysts were stirred at 75
C for 5 h, dried at
100
C for 12 h and calcined at 700
C for 4 h in air.
2.2. Characterization of the Catalysts
Surface areas of catalysts were determined by N
2
physorp-
tion. Metal dispersion on catalysts was measured by
H
2
-pulse chemisorption. Catalyst structures were analyzed
by X-ray diffraction and recorded using a Rigaku pow-
der diffraction unit (DMAX 100). Acidities of catalysts
were measured by NH
3
-TPD. The reduction properties of
catalysts were measured by TPR. SEM (S-4700, Hitachi
Japan) images were taken to observe the carbon formation
of used catalysts.
2.3. Catalyst Performance Testing
Steam reforming of glycerol was carried out in a fixed-bed
reactor at furnace temperatures of 350–550
C under atmo-
spheric pressure. 8:1 (water:glycerol) molar mixture was
fed into the reactor using a HPLC pump (M930, Young-
Lin, Korea) at a flow rate of 0.04 ml/min. Catalyst loading
was 0.15 g and the catalysts were reduced with 10% H
2
/Ar
gas for 1 h at 700
C prior to the experiment. Liquids
J. Nanosci. Nanotechnol. 2013, Vol. 13, No. 1 1533-4880/2013/13/653/004 doi:10.1166/jnn.2013.6956 653