Autothermal Reforming of Volatile Organic Compounds to Hydrogen-Rich Gas

• Published in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2023-01, Vol.28 (2), p.752
• Main Authors: Bian, Chao, Huang, Jiazhun, Zhong, Biqi, Zheng, Zefeng, Dang, Dai, Okafor, Obiefuna C, Liu, Yujia, Wang, Tiejun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air pollution; Aluminum oxide; autothermal reforming; Benzene; By products; Carbon; Carcinogenicity; Carcinogens; Catalysts; Chemical compounds; Chemical plants; Cost control; Diesel fuels; Efficiency; Emissions; Emissions control; Energy consumption; Environmental impact; Fuel technology; Hydrocarbons; Hydrogen; Industrial emissions; Investigations; Lagrange multiplier; Membrane separation; Nickel oxides; nickel-based catalyst; Organic compounds; Oxidation; Pollutants; Precious metals; Reforming; Simulation; Solid oxide fuel cells; Temperature distribution; Toluene; Toxicity; Transitional aluminas; VOCs; Volatile organic compounds
• ISSN: 1420-3049; 1420-3049
• DOI: 10.3390/molecules28020752

Industrial emissions of volatile organic compounds are urgently addressed for their toxicity and carcinogenicity to humans. Developing efficient and eco-friendly reforming technology of volatile organic compounds is important but still a great challenge. A promising strategy is to generate hydrogen-rich gas for solid oxide fuel cells by autothermal reforming of VOCs. In this study, we found a more desirable commercial catalyst (NiO/K O-γ-Al O ) for the autothermal reforming of VOCs. The performance of autothermal reforming of toluene as a model compound over a NiO/K O-γ-Al O catalyst fitted well with the simulation results at the optimum operating conditions calculated based on a simulation using Aspen PlusV11.0 software. Furthermore, the axial temperature distribution of the catalyst bed was monitored during the reaction, which demonstrated that the reaction system was self-sustaining. Eventually, actual volatile organic compounds from the chemical factory (C , C , toluene, paraxylene, diesel, benzene, kerosene, raffinate oil) were completely reformed over NiO/K O-γ-Al O . Reducing emissions of VOCs and generating hydrogen-rich gas as a fuel from the autothermal reforming of VOCs is a promising strategy.