HYDROGEN PRODUCTION FROM RENEWABLE PRIMARY SOURCES

ABSTRACT One of the most attracting renewable sources for energy production is bioethanol, which can be obtained from biomass. Special attention is here focused on the steam reforming reaction of ethanol (SRE) in which the principal product, hydrogen, is an interesting energy vector to produce power, electricity and heat. However, the process has not yet come to maturity and it should be optimized in order to made it industrially available. To this aim, we focused our work on catalysts synthesis for SRE, trying to couple high activity and durability. Different catalyst formulations based on Ni as active phase, supported over zeolite-BEA, zirconia, titania and lanthana were synthesized and characterized by N2 adsorption/desorption, temperature programmed reduction (TPR), X-rays diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and infra-red Fourier transform spectroscopy. The performance of the catalysts was evaluated for SRE by using absolute ethanol and bioethanol 50 and 90 vol%, obtained from second generation biomass and kindly supplied by Mossi&Ghisolfi. An important aim of the work was the intensification of the process from the energetic point of view, decreasing the energy input to the reformer (endothermal reaction) to better integrate this high temperature stage with the hydrogen purification section and the possible use of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEM-FC).