Citation: Loy, A.C.M.; Samudrala, S.P.; Bhattacharya, S. Evaluation of Porous Honeycomb-Shaped CuO/CeO 2 Catalyst in Vapour Phase Glycerol Reforming for Sustainable Hydrogen Production. Catalysts 2022, 12, 941. https://doi.org/10.3390/ catal12090941 Academic Editor: Hwai Chyuan Ong Received: 28 July 2022 Accepted: 22 August 2022 Published: 24 August 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). catalysts Article Evaluation of Porous Honeycomb-Shaped CuO/CeO 2 Catalyst in Vapour Phase Glycerol Reforming for Sustainable Hydrogen Production Adrian Chun Minh Loy *, Shanthi Priya Samudrala and Sankar Bhattacharya * Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia * Correspondence: adrian.loy@monash.edu (A.C.M.L.); sankar.bhattacharya@monash.edu (S.B.) Abstract: This study presented an optimisation study of two-stage vapour-phase catalytic glycerol reforming (VPCGR) using response surface methodology (RSM) with a central composite experi- mental design (CCD) approach. Characterisation through Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analysis (BET), small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X- ray analysis (SEM-EDX), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and particle X-ray diffraction (PXRD) were carried out to understand the physiochemical activity of the honeycomb morphology CuO/CeO 2 catalyst. Notably, in this study, we achieved the desired result of glycerol conversion (94%) and H 2 production (81 vol.%) under the reaction condition of Cu species loading (10 wt.%), reaction temperature (823 K), WHSV (2 h −1 ) and glycerol concentration (15 wt.%). From the RSM analysis, an optimum predicted model for VPCGR was obtained and further integrated into Microsoft Excel and Aspen Plus to perform an energy analysis of the VPCGR plant at a scale of 100 kg h −1 of glycerol feed. As a whole, this study aimed to provide an overview of the technical operation and energy aspect for a sustainable frontier in glycerol reforming. Keywords: Cu/CeO 2 ; aspen plus; energy analysis; glycerol reforming; heterogeneous catalyst 1. Introduction Global warming and fossil fuel depletion are two of the greatest challenges of the humankind. Due to the acceleration of climate change’s effect, the need for a paradigm shift from the use of conventional fossil fuels toward renewable energy in the global arena is becoming more important. The measures include developing energy legislation, supporting carbon credit programs and giving renewable energy tax credits and subsidies [1]. In this context, the urge for seeking an alternative renewable and environmentally friendly clean source, aligning to the 7th UN sustainable development goal “affordable and clean energy”, is imperative to achieve a sustainable energy matrix [2–4]. Hydrogen (H 2 ) is one of the potential alternatives in reducing the society’s reliance on fossil fuels, owing to its clean combustion characteristics and high calorific values [2,5]. Moreover, H 2 is a highly sought-after industrial commodity that can be utilised in applica- tions ranging from power generation to chemical refineries [6,7]. Currently, most of the H 2 production is from unsustainable routes, more indicatively, from mature technologies such as hydrocarbon reforming and natural gas reforming [8]. Even though a huge amount of H 2 can be produced at a lower cost in these processes, the consumption of fossil resources is still contributing a huge amount of greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, developing a green, sustainable and efficient strategy for H 2 production is critical. On the other hand, glycerol, one of the promising renewable top 12 building-block chemicals, has emerged as an attractive alternative for petroleum-based-product substitu- tion [9,10]. By comparing with other renewable feedstock such as methanol and ethanol, glycerol (a) is less flammable and safer to handle due to a higher flashpoint (technical Catalysts 2022, 12, 941. https://doi.org/10.3390/catal12090941 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/catalysts