Low-temperature catalytic performance of Ni-Cu/Al2O3 catalysts for gasoline reforming to produce hydrogen applied in spark ignition engines

Abstract

The performance of Ni-Cu/Al2O3 catalysts for steam reforming (SR) of gasoline to produce a hydrogen-rich gas mixture applied in a spark ignition (SI) engine was investigated at relatively low temperature. The structural and morphological features and catalysis activity were observed by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and temperature programmed reduction (TPR). The results showed that the addition of copper improved the dispersion of nickel and therefore facilitated the reduction of Ni at low temperature. The highest hydrogen selectivity of 70.6% is observed over the Ni-Cu/Al2O3 catalysts at a steam/carbon ratio of 0.9. With Cu promotion, a gasoline conversion of 42.6% can be achieved at 550°C, while with both Mo and Ce promotion, the gasoline conversions were 31.7% and 28.3%, respectively, higher than with the conventional Ni catalyst. On the other hand, initial durability testing showed that the conversion of gasoline over Ni-Cu/Al2O3 catalysts slightly decreased after 30 h reaction time.