A review on butanol steam reforming for renewable hydrogen production

Butanol is a renewable bio-oxygenate that can be prepared by fermentation of lignocellulosic biomass. Steam reforming of bio-derived butanol is an attractive and feasible option for producing renewable hydrogen. In the present work, all the studies on butanol steam reforming are reviewed comprehensively. The thermodynamics for the reaction, the optimized reaction conditions such as temperature, pressure, steam to carbon (S/C) ratio and the innovations in catalyst designs are described in depth. Based on the type of catalyst and support, different reaction routes for butanol reforming are possible. Ni, Co, Rh and Pt catalyst are more appropriate for butanol reforming. The challenges associated in utilizing bio-butanol as feed and design of cost effective and coke resistant catalyst are discussed. Such discussions on butanol reforming are still missing and the present work will fill this gap.