Hydrogen Production From Biomass Derived Compounds

This thesis presents a study on the production of hydrogen through ethanol steam reforming. The objective of this study was to investigate the kinetics of the ethanol steam reforming reaction. The primary focus was to identify the most suitable catalyst for this reaction based on its kinetic properties. Two different catalyst compositions, namely a cobalt-nickel alloy with a ratio of 35% cobalt and 5% nickel (referred to as 35Co05Ni catalyst) and a cobalt-nickel alloy with equal proportions of 20% cobalt and 20% nickel (referred to as 20Co20Ni catalyst), were employed for the experiments. The obtained results indicated that the utilization of the 20Co20Ni catalyst resulted in a determined reaction order of 0.92 for ethanol, while the 35Co05Ni catalyst exhibited a reaction order of 1.06. The reaction order signifies the relationship between the concentration of the reactants and the rate of the reaction. A reaction order close to 1 suggests a linear relationship, wherein a doubling of the reactant concentration leads to approximately a doubling of the reaction rate. Additionally, the activation energy values were determined to be 85.9 kJ/mol for 20Co20Ni catalyst and 135.9 kJ/mol for 35Co05Ni catalyst. Activation energy is a measure of the energy barrier that must be overcome for a chemical reaction to occur. A lower activation energy indicates that the reaction can proceed at a faster rate, as less energy is required for the reactant molecules to reach the necessary threshold. Based on these findings, it is recommended to employ the 20Co20Ni catalyst for the production of hydrogen through ethanol steam reforming. The 20Co20Ni catalyst demonstrated a lower activation energy in comparison to the 35Co05Ni catalyst. This indicates that the 20Co20Ni catalyst enables a more efficient conversion of ethanol to hydrogen, resulting in a higher reaction rate and reduced energy demand. Consequently, the use of the 20Co20Ni catalyst is expected to optimize the efficiency of the ethanol steam reforming process.