Design and Characterization of Nanocomposite Catalysts for Biofuel Conversion into Syngas and Hydrogen in Structured Reactors and Membranes

This review considers the problems associated with the development and operation of highly active and stable structured catalysts for biogas/biofuel conversion into syngas and hydrogen based on nanocrystalline oxides with fluorite, perovskite, and spinel structures and their nanocomposites promoted by nanoparticles of platinum group metals and alloys based on nickel. The design of these catalysts is based on finding the relationships between the methods of their synthesis, composition, real structure/microstructure, surface properties, and oxygen mobility and reactivity largely determined by the metal–support interaction. This requires the use of modern structural, spectroscopic, kinetic methods, and mathematical modeling. Thin layers of optimized catalysts deposited on structured heat-conducting supports demonstrated high activity and resistance to carbonization in the processes of biogas and biofuels conversion into syngas, and catalysts deposited on asymmetric ceramic membranes with mixed ionic–electronic conductivity allowed oxygen or hydrogen to be separated from complex mixtures with 100% selectivity.