Hydrogen Production by Steam Reforming of Commercially Available LPG in UAE. Issue 2 (1st February 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Al-Zuhair, S.; Hassan, M.; Djama, M.; Khaleel, A.
• Is Part Of: Chemical engineering communications. Volume 204:Issue 2(2017)
• Page Start: 141
• Page End: 148
• Publication Date: 2017-02-01
• Subjects: Hydrogen -- Kinetics -- LPG -- Ni/Al2O3 -- Ru/Al2O3 -- Steam reforming; Chemical engineering -- Periodicals; 660.205
• DOI: 10.1080/00986445.2016.1245186
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0098-6445

Abstract

Abstract : Steam reforming of commercially available LPG using Ru/Al2 O3 and Ni/Al2 O3 catalysts has been studied at temperatures between 573 and 773 K. Ru/Al2 O3 catalyst showed higher rates of reaction and lower activation energies of the three main components of LPG, compared with Ni/Al2 O3 . However, Ni/Al2 O3 catalyst showed a better H2 :CH4 selectivity. The activation energy of n-butane was the lowest over Ru/Al2 O3, whereas over Ni/Al2 O3, propane had the lowest activation energy. The activation energy of i-butane was always the highest over both catalysts, which suggests that both catalysts performed better with unbranched molecules. A slight increase in activation energy was observed, when each component of the LPG mixture was studied separately as a pure gas, compared with being mixed in LPG. At a constant temperature of 773 K, hydrogen production yield and H2 :CH4 selectivity were determined using Ru/Al2 O3 at different steam:carbon (S:C) ratios and LPG flow rates. It was found that the yield and selectivity increased with the increase in S:C ratio and the decrease in the flow rate. The highest yield of 0.64 was achieved using S:C ratio of 6.5 and a LPG flow rate of 50 mL min −1 . The work provides valuable information on steam reforming of pure components of LPG, compared with when they are in the mixture. The comparison is done using conventional steam reforming catalyst, Ni/Al2 O3, and compared with Ru/Al2 O3 . The observed trends and variations in reaction rates, in pure and mixed gases, indicated that the mechanism of steam reforming of a hydrocarbon mixture depends on its composition.