CeO2 and La2O3 promoters in the steam reforming of polyolefinic waste plastic pyrolysis volatiles on Ni-based catalysts

[EN] Based on the promising results of La2O3 and CeO2 promoted Ni/Al2O3 catalysts in the reforming of biomass pyrolysis volatiles, the performance of these catalysts and the non-promoted one was 2 evaluated in the pyrolysis and in-line steam reforming of polypropylene (PP). The experiments were carried out in a continuous bench scale pyrolysis-reforming plant using two space times of 4.1 and 16.7 gcat min gplastic−1 and a steam/PP ratio of 4. The prepared catalysts and the deposited coke were characterized by N2 adsorption-desorption, X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), temperature programmed oxidation (TPO) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The Ni/Al2O3 catalyst showed suitable performance regarding pyrolysis product conversion and hydrogen production, and led to moderate coke deposition. It is to note that La2O3 incorporation remarkably improved catalyst performance compared to the other two catalysts in terms of conversion (> 99 %), hydrogen production (34.9 %) and coke deposition (2.24 wt%).This work was carried out with the financial support from Spain’s ministries of Economy and Competitiveness (CTQ2016-75535-R (AEI/FEDER, UE), Science, Innovation and Universities (RTI2018-101678-B-I00 (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE)) and, Science and Innovation PID2019-107357RB-I00 (MCI/AEI/FEDER, UE)), the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 823745, and the Basque Government (IT1218-19 and KK-2020/00107)