Hydrogen production from ethanol steam reforming over Rh/CeO2 catalyst

Abstract Hydrogen production from ethanol steam reforming over an Rh/CeO 2 catalyst was investigated with a stoichiometric feed composition. Ethanol was entirely converted to hydrogen and C 1 products (CO, CO 2 , CH 4 ) at 400 °C due to the remarkable C–C bond cleavage capacity of Rh species. The Rh/CeO 2 catalyst exhibited stable activity and selectivity without the obvious deactivation during 70 h on stream test. Structural analysis of the aged catalysts indicated that the strong interaction between Rh and ceria support efficiently inhibited Rh particles sintering (stable at around 2 nm) and coke formation to guarantee catalyst stability.