Production of synthesis gas by autothermal reforming of iso-octane and toluene over metal modified Ni-based catalyst

The reforming process of gasoline is an attractive technique for fuel processor or hydrogen station applications. We investigated catalytic autothermal reforming (ATR) of iso-octane and toluene over transition metal supported catalysts. The catalysts were prepared by an incipient wetness impregnation method and characterized by N-2 physisorption, XRD, and TEM techniques before and after the reaction. Many of the tested catalysts displayed reasonably good activity towards the reforming reactions of isooctane. Especially, Ni/Fe/MgO/Al2O3 catalyst showed more activity than the other catalysts tested in this study including commercial HT catalyst. Ni/Fe/MgO/Al2O3 catalyst showed good stability for 700 h in the ATR of iso-octane. No major change was observed in catalytic activity in ATR of iso-octane or in the structure of catalyst. Since iso-octane, toluene are surrogates of gasoline, Ni/Fe/MgO/Al2O3 catalyst can be considered as ATR catalyst for gasoline fuel processor and hydrogen station systems. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.