On-site hydrogen-rich gas production from diesel: A comprehensive study on catalyst development with nickel and diverse metal oxides (MgO, La2O3, CeO2, SiO2) supported on alumina

The study aimed to investigate the impact of nickel-incorporating diverse metal oxides (MgO, La₂O₃, CeO₂, SiO₂) supported on alumina on the Diesel steam reforming reaction. Catalytic activity tests were performed within a reaction period of 6 h at 800°C and atmospheric pressure. The amount of catalyst is 30 gr in each experiment corresponding to a LHSV value of 0.2 hr⁻¹. The tests proved that the performances of Ni-containing La₂O₃ and CeO₂-supported catalysts were highly stable and active in steam reforming of Diesel, giving complete conversion. The incorporation of CeO₂ (20 % wt) into Al₂O₃ support resulted in a significant reduction in the amount of coke formation from 0.85 % to 0.26 %. In order to investigate catalyst stability, time-on stream tests extending to 6 days, totaling 36 hours were performed using 5Ni@10La₂O₃-Al₂O₃. As a result of the long-term stability test, no deactivation has been observed under the test conditions despite very few amounts of carbon (1.33 wt%) formed. When comparing the short-term and long-term tests, similar syn-gas production results were observed, along with approximately the same amount of carbon formation.