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Ethanol Steam Reforming by Ni Catalysts for H2 Production: Evaluation of Gd Effect in CeO2 Support

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Abstract

Ni-based catalysts supported on CeO2 doped with Gd were prepared in this work to investigate the role of gadolinium on ethanol conversion, H2 selectivity, and carbon formation on ethanol steam reforming reaction. For this, catalysts containing 5 wt% of Ni impregnated on supports of ceria modified with different amounts of Gd (1, 5, and 10 wt%) were used. Ex-situ studies of XRPD suggest an increase of the lattice parameters, indicating a solid solution formation between Gd and Ce. Results of TPR showed an increase in metal-support interactions as the content of Gd increased. In situ XRPD studies indicated the formation of a GdNiO ternary phase for the catalysts containing Gd, which is in agreement with the results obtained by XANES. The catalysts were tested at three temperatures: 400 °C, 500 °C, and 600 °C. The conversion and productivity showed dependence with the Gd content and also with the temperature of the reaction. After the catalytic tests, catalysts containing Gd presented filamentous carbon possible due to a change in the reaction pathway. The highest ethanol conversion and H2 productivity were obtained at 600 °C for all catalysts and the best catalyst at this temperature was 5Ni_5GdCeO2. The promising performance of this catalyst may be associate with the lowest formation of GdNiO ternary phase, among the catalysts containing Gd, which means more Ni0 active species available to convert ethanol.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento (CNPq, process 304883/2016-6) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa (FAPESP, Projects No 2015/06246-7 and 2014/50279-4) for the financial support and the scholarships, Laboratório Nacional de Luz Síncrotron (LNLS) for XRPD and XANES facilities, Laboratório Multiusuário de Microscopia de Alta Resolução (LAbMIC) for TEM experiments. Particularly, G. F. thanks A. J for the TG experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Chemistry of São Carlos, University of São Paulo, São Carlos, SP, 13566-590, Brazil

    Gabriella R. Ferreira, Alessandra F. Lucrédio & Elisabete M. Assaf

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, Federal University of São Carlos, São Carlos, SP, 13565-905, Brazil

    Francisco G. E. Nogueira

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  1. Gabriella R. Ferreira
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GRF prepared the materials and conducted catalytic tests. AFL and FGEN contributed to the experiments. EMA supervised and coordinated the project. All authors discussed and contributed to the writing of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Elisabete M. Assaf.

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Ferreira, G.R., Nogueira, F.G.E., Lucrédio, A.F. et al. Ethanol Steam Reforming by Ni Catalysts for H2 Production: Evaluation of Gd Effect in CeO2 Support. Catal Lett 152, 3125–3145 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10562-021-03875-3

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