Catalytic steam reforming of toluene for hydrogen production over nickel-cobalt supported activated carbon

Tar formation during biomass gasification is the main obstacle in the sustainable hydrogen (H2) production, which increases the processing cost due to clogging of pipes and engines as well as reducing the desired product efficiency. In this present study, catalytic performance of Ni and/or Co supported on modified-palm kernel shell-derived activated carbon (AC) catalysts in steam reforming of toluene (tar model compound) for H2 production was investigated. Experiments were performed to investigate the effect of several factors on toluene conversion (X_toluene) and H₂ yield (Y_H2), including surface pretreatment using nitric acid to AC support and metal loading content of Ni and/or Co. The synthesized catalysts were characterized using FTIR, BET, XRD, TGA and FESEM-EDX. The 10%Ni-10%Co/ACN catalyst exhibited the highest X_toluene and Y_H2 with 70% and 69%, respectively, attributed by its improved coke-resistance capability during reaction. This is contributed from the formation of Ni-Co solid solution alloys and homogenous metal distribution due to the increment of surface area, microporous structure and surface functional group after pretreatment. Bimetallic Ni-Co supported on modified-AC catalyst has high potential as low-cost biomass-derived catalyst in tar removal for hydrogen production.