Catalytic partial oxidation of ethanol on alumina-supported rhodium catalysts: An experimental study Original Research Article

The catalytic partial oxidation of ethanol is experimentally studied over an alumina rhodium coated monolithic honeycomb catalyst at short contact times. The product distribution is analyzed as function of carbon-to-oxygen ratio (C/O) for two different space velocities by a variety of simultaneously applied methods such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, sector mass spectrometry, paramagnetic gas analyzer and gas chromatography combined with mass spectrometry. Low C/O resulted in highly selective synthesis gas production, whereas by-products like methane, ethylene, acetaldehyde and diethyl ether became eminent with increasing C/O.