Glycerol Reforming for Hydrogen Production: A Review

Glycerol, which is obtained as a by-product in biodiesel production, represents a candidate source of hydrogen that is renewable. Its conversion into hydrogen can be achieved by a reforming process. In this article, the glycerol reforming reaction is reviewed. Different reforming processes for hydrogen production, viz. steam, aqueous, and autothermal reforming, are described in brief The thermodynamic analyses, which enable comparison with experimental studies, are considered. A discussion on experimental investigations over several catalysts is presented, too. Many reaction pathways are possible and some of them are dependent on the properties of the catalyst used. Generally, Ni, Pt, and Ru catalysts facilitate hydrogen production. The same catalysts are also effective for the reforming reaction of ethanol - another renewable resource for hydrogen. While ethanol steam reforming has been comprehensively reviewed by now, an overview on glycerol reforming is still missing. In this paper, an evaluation of the published studies is given to close this gap.