Ni-based catalyst for partial oxidation reforming of iso-octane Original Research Article

The partial oxidation (POX) reforming process of gasoline is an attractive option for the applications to fuel cell-powered vehicles. As a part of the development of a gasoline fuel processor, various supported transition metal formulations for the POX-reforming of iso-octane were investigated. Many of the tested catalysts displayed reasonably good activity towards the POX-reforming of iso-octane. Some catalyst formulations showed better activity than a commercial ICI catalyst under the tested conditions. It was found that catalytic formulations of Ni/M/MgO/Al2O3 were more active than the other catalyst formulations in the POX-reforming of iso-octane. Especially, Ni/Fe/MgO/Al2O3 catalyst with high stability in POX-reforming of iso-octane (Cs<5 ppm) showed better sulfur tolerance over the commercial ICI catalyst in the POX-reforming of iso-octane containing sulfur (Cs=100 ppm), even though none of the systems was found to be completely sulfur resistant. It was suggested that Ni/Fe/MgO/Al2O3 catalyst may be used as an alternative option in place of the commercial ICI reforming catalyst for fuel cell-powered vehicles.