Composite Rh/Zr0.25Ce0.75O2-δ-ƞ-Al2O3/Fecralloy wire mesh honeycomb module for natural gas, LPG and diesel catalytic conversion to syngas

Abstract The reactions of catalytic autothermal and steam conversion of n – C 16 H 34 (model compound simulating diesel fuel), and partial oxidation of natural gas and LPG were studied using 0.24wt%Rh/(12wt%Zr 0.25 Ce 0.75 O 2-δ -ƞ-Al 2 O 3 )/Fecralloy wire mesh honeycomb modules. The experiments were carried out in a flow setup in the temperature range of 550–960 °C and at atmospheric pressure. It was shown that the observed syngas (CO + H 2 ) productivities were 65 and 53 m 3 Lcat −1 h −1 (STP) at GHSV of 100,000 and 80,000 h −1 in natural gas and liquid petroleum gas catalytic partial oxidation processes, respectively. The product distributions were still close to the calculated equilibrium values. The catalyst activity was very high and, potentially, the maximum syngas productivity may even exceed experimentally demonstrated values. It was shown also that 0.24wt%Rh/(12wt%Zr 0.25 Ce 0.75 O 2-δ -ƞ-Al 2 O 3 )/Fecralloy catalyst provided complete n-hexadecane conversion with the maximum syngas (CO + H 2 ) productivity of 6.2 m 3 Lcat −1 h −1 (STP) at GHSV of 13,300 h −1 . The proposed concept of hydrogen-rich gas production from various hydrocarbon feedstocks in a multi-fuel catalytic reformer over single composite catalyst was proved feasible. The produced synthesis gas can be supplied as a fuel for power generation units based on high-temperature solid oxide fuel cells.