Steam reforming of liquid hydrocarbons over a nickel–alumina spinel catalyst

Interest in steam reforming of liquid hydrocarbons is growing due to the necessity of developing reliable alternatives for their use in fuel cells. In particular, solid oxide fuel cells, which can operate with mixtures of H 2 and CO, are excellent candidates for being fed with liquid fuels coming from both fossil and renewable sources. Fossil-derived, synthetic diesel is an interesting option. In this work, an Al 2O 3–ZrO 2-supported nickel–alumina spinel was tested in a lab-scale isothermal packed-bed reactor as a catalyst of steam reforming of propane, hexadecane and tetralin as surrogates of constitutive families of all commercially available diesel fuels. The results show that the reaction reaches equilibrium at reaction severities lower than those reported in the literature. When operated at steam excess of 250%, carbon formation is not higher than expected by theoretical thermodynamic equilibrium calculations, and no significant catalyst deactivation is observed over the test durations. Scanning electron microscopy of the fresh and used catalyst surfaces shows no significant quantities of carbon.