Abstract :

Hydrogen is considered to be the most viable energy carrier for the future. Producing hydrogen
from ethanol steam reforming would not only be environmentally friendly but also would open
new opportunities for utilization of renewable resources, which are globally available. This
paper reviews the current state of the steam reforming process of ethanol, examines different
catalysts, and, finally, makes a comparative analysis. Different catalysts have been used for
the steam reforming of ethanol. Depending on the type of catalysts, reaction conditions, and
the catalyst preparation method, ethanol conversion and hydrogen production vary greatly. It
was observed that Co/ZnO, ZnO, Rh/Al2O3, Rh/CeO2, and Ni/La2O3Al2O3 performed the best, in
regard to the steam reforming of ethanol. Currently, hydrogen production from ethanol steam
reforming is still in the research and development stage.

In recent years, many efforts have been made to develop processes and reactor
technologies for the production of cheap, ultra-pure hydrogen that can be used in
efficient PEM fuel cells. Nowadays, hydrogen is mainly produced by steam reforming of
natural gas in multi-tubular reactors. The main drawback of natural gas reforming is that
this reaction leads to a H2 rich gas mixture also containing carbon oxides and other byproducts. Consequently, in order to produce pure H2, chemical processes are carried out
in a number of reaction units (typically high temperature reformer, high and low
temperature shift reactors) followed by separation units (mostly pressure swing
adsorption units are used). An attractive way to produce hydrogen is the reforming of
renewable fuels (e.g. bio-ethanol) inside membrane reactors, where hydrogen
production and hydrogen separation through selective membranes are integrated in one
apparatus. In this paper the production of ultra-pure hydrogen via autothermal
reforming of ethanol in a fluidized bed membrane reactor has been studied. The steam
reforming of ethanol is an endothermic reaction requiring a great amount of heat. The
needed energy for the steam reforming is obtained by burning part of the hydrogen
recovered via the hydrogen perm-selective membrane. In this configuration, the air used
for the combustion is never in contact with the reacting mixture, which makes thus
autothermal reforming with integrated CO2 capture feasible. Simulation results based on
a phenomenological model show that it is possible to obtain overall autothermal
reforming of ethanol while 100% of hydrogen can in principle be recovered at relatively
high temperatures and at high reaction pressures. At the same operating conditions,
ethanol is completely converted, while the methane produced by the reaction is
completely reformed to CO, CO2 and H2.