Effect of the incorporation of reducibility promoters (Cu, Ce, Ag) in Co/CaSBA‐15 catalysts for acetic acid steam reforming

Summary In this work, we have faced the problem associated with the addition of Ca to Co/SBA‐15, which gave rise to an increase in the dispersion of the particles at the expense of increasing its reduction temperature, thus limiting its reducibility as demonstrated by XPS. This detrimental effect has been solved by the inclusion of reducibility promoters such as Cu, Ag and Ce. All these promoters led to an increase in the acetic acid conversion attributed to their beneficial effect in the catalyst reducibility. With the inclusion of Ce to Co/CaSBA‐15, the high dispersion was maintained while the percentage of reduced Co species increased by ~90% compared with Co/CaSBA‐15, leading to the best catalytic performance (X ~ 99%, YH2 = 71.8%) after 5 hours TOS in the acetic acid steam reforming (S/C = 2) at 600°C using a WHSV = 30.1 hours−1. Furthermore, Co‐Ce/CaSBA‐15 showed good stability with hydrogen yield close to the thermodynamic value. These results highlight the necessity of combining both dispersing additives and promoters of reducibility to enhance the catalytic performance in steam reforming. This work highlights the necessity of combining both dispersing additives and promoters of reducibility to improve the properties of Co/CaSBA‐15 catalysts in the acetic acid steam reforming. The addition of Cu, Ce or Ag resulted in the enhancement of the catalytic performance, being Co/CaSBA‐15 the catalyst which showed the best results in terms of conversion and hydrogen yield (62% higher than Co/CaSBA‐15).