Catalytic Properties and Recycling of NiFe 2 O 4 Catalyst for Hydrogen Production by Supercritical Water Gasification of Eucalyptus Wood Chips

Ane Caroline Pereira Borges, Jude Azubuike Onwudili*, Heloysa Andrade, Carine Alves, Andrew Ingram, Silvio Vieira de Melo, Ednildo Torres

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Nickel iron oxide (NiFe2O4) catalyst was prepared by the combustion reaction method and characterized by XRD, N2 adsorption/desorption, thermogravimetric analysis (TG), and temperature programmed reduction (TPR). The catalyst presented a mixture of oxides, including the NiFe2O4 spinel and specific surface area of 32.4 m2 g−1. The effect of NiFe2O4 catalyst on the supercritical water gasification (SCWG) of eucalyptus wood chips was studied in a batch reactor at 450 and 500 °C without catalyst and with 1.0 g and 2.0 g of catalyst and 2.0 g of biomass for 60 min. In addition, the recyclability of the catalyst under the operating conditions was also tested using recovered and recalcined catalysts over three reaction cycles. The highest amount of H2 was 25 mol% obtained at 450 °C, using 2 g of NiFe2O4 catalyst. The H2 mol% was enhanced by 45% when compared to the non-catalytic test, showing the catalytic activity of NiFe2O4 catalyst in the WGS and the steam reforming reactions. After the third reaction cycle, the results of XRD demonstrated formation of coke which caused the deactivation of the NiFe2O4 and consequently, a 13.6% reduction in H2 mol% and a 5.6% reduction in biomass conversion.
Original languageEnglish
Article number4553
JournalEnergies
Volume13
Issue number17
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Sept 2020

Bibliographical note

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access
article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution
(CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Funding: This study was partly financially supported by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
(CAPES, Brazil) - Finance Code 23038.002918/2014-75 and the EU Horizon 2020 through the Biofuel Research
Infrastructure for Sharing Knowledge 2 (BRSIK2) for A.C.P.B.

Keywords

  • Catalytic gasification
  • Hydrogen production
  • Nickel iron oxide
  • Recycling tests
  • Supercritical water

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