Sol-gel auto-combustion synthesis of bimetallic Pt-Co/Al2O3 catalysts for hydrogen production via acetic acid steam reforming

Green hydrogen production from renewable biomass via bio-oil catalytic steam reforming was a prospective technology. In order to accelerate the development of high-performance and long-term catalyst, we selected acetic acid as a typical bio-oil model compound to carry out the studies of steam reforming. Excellent bimetallic Pt-Co/Al 2 O 3 catalysts were prepared using a sol-gel auto-combustion method. The effects of the molar ratio of ethylene glycol : citric acid : metal ions (EG/CA/M) on the catalyst structure and subsequent reforming performance were systematically investigated. It was found that the catalyst’s textural properties, reducibility , basic sites, and the dispersion of active metal could be carefully tuned by the EG/CA/M ratio. The catalyst prepared under EG/CA/M ratio of 6:3:1 performed the best reactivity in acetic acid steam reforming, showing a 97.6% acetic acid conversion and a 96.6% H 2 yield at the reaction conditions of 650 °C, steam to carbon molar ratio of 5, and space velocity of 6957 h –1 . Furthermore, a bifunctional reaction mechanism of acetic acid catalytic steam reforming was proposed by in-situ diffuse reflective infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy analysis coupled with density functional theory calculations.