PRODUCTION OF VALUE-ADDED CHEMICALS THROUGH GLYCEROL AQUEOUS PHASE REFORMING USING NI-BASED CATALYSTS: INFLUENCE OF OPERATING CONDITIONS

The aqueous phase reforming (APR) of glycerol was studied using Ni/CeO2 catalysts prepared via the incipient wetness impregnation method. Different Ni/CeO2 catalysts have been tested in a continuous flow reactor: Ni10/CeO2(500), Ni20/CeO2(500) and Ni10/CeO2(700), which were selected from previous works developed in our research group. Two different experimental conditions have been tested in order to study its influence on the catalysts activity. Several catalyst characterization techniques were used: N-2 physisorption, H-2-TPR, XRD and ICP-OES. All the catalysts showed a very high selectivity to liquid products and a very low gas production. The liquid products were a mix of acetol, 1,2-propanediol, ethylene glycol and ethanol, among others at trace level. A clear impact of the experimental conditions has been observed. In addition, Ni10/CeO2(700) catalyst presented a different behavior in respect to the other two catalysts, in terms of liquid products selectivity.