Y-Zr-O solid solution supported Ni-based catalysts for hydrogen production via auto-thermal reforming of acetic acid

Abstract Auto-thermal reforming (ATR) is an effective route to extract hydrogen from both water and acetic acid (HAc) from bio-oil. With addition of oxygen into ATR, the reaction heat can be balanced, but the migration of oxygen for oxidation of carbonous species from HAc is still a concern. Here, we report NiYxZr0.85-xOy (x = 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.85) catalysts with Y-Zr-O solid solution as support for hydrogen production via ATR of HAc. The oxygen vacancies provided by Y-Zr-O solid solution are beneficial to activating surface oxygen species and improve oxygen mobility of the nickel catalyst, thus the oxygen transfer from reactant to product CO and CO2 was enhanced. On the other hand, Ni nanoparticles, the active metal, are highly dispersed on the Y-Zr-O solid solution carrier. Consequently, the NiY0.2Zr0.65O1.75 catalyst exhibits the highest activity and enhanced stability: the acetic acid conversion is near 100 % and the yield of hydrogen reaches 3.0 mol-H2/mol-HAc, and no obviously coking is found after the reaction.