Fuel cell grade hydrogen production from the steam reforming of bioethanol over Co-based catalysts: An investigation of reaction networks and active sites.

The catalytic steam reforming of bio-ethanol offers a highly attractive route for catalytically converting biomass to hydrogen. A cost-effective, non-precious metal, supported cobalt catalyst system has been developed that is effective for ethanol reforming to produce fuel cell grade hydrogen. A series of cobalt catalysts have been synthesized using zirconia as a support. Catalyst testing on a lab scale continuous flow reaction system with a packed catalyst bed showed the best performance for the 10% Co-Zr catalyst at a reaction temperature of 450°C. The optimal catalyst parameters were determined using the characterization techniques BET surface area analysis, temperature programmed reduction (TPR), Laser Raman Spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), and Diffuse Reflectance Infra-red Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (DRIFTS)