Catalytic Steam Reforming of Toluene: Understanding the Influence of the Main Reaction Parameters over a Reference Catalyst

Hua Lun Zhu, Laura Pastor-Pérez and Marcos Millan
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Hua Lun Zhu: Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK
Laura Pastor-Pérez: Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK
Marcos Millan: Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: Identifying the suitable reaction conditions is key to achieve high performance and economic efficiency in any catalytic process. In this study, the catalytic performance of a Ni/Al 2 O 3 catalyst, a benchmark system—was investigated in steam reforming of toluene as a biomass gasification tar model compound to explore the effect of reforming temperature, steam to carbon (S/C) ratio and residence time on toluene conversion and gas products. An S/C molar ratio range from one to three and temperature range from 700 to 900 °C was selected according to thermodynamic equilibrium calculations, and gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) was varied from 30,600 to 122,400 h −1 based on previous work. The results suggest that 800 °C, GHSV 61,200 h −1 and S/C ratio 3 provide favourable operating conditions for steam reforming of toluene in order to get high toluene conversion and hydrogen productivity, achieving a toluene to gas conversion of 94% and H 2 production of 13 mol/mol toluene.

Keywords: toluene; steam reforming; GHSV; S/C ratio; coke formation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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