Hybrid plasma-catalytic steam reforming of toluene as a biomass tar model compound over Ni/Al₂O₃ catalysts

Liu, SY ORCID: 0000-0002-7014-3002, Mei, DH ORCID: 0000-0002-3024-3551, Nahil, MA, Gadkari, S, Gu, S, Williams, PT and Tu, X ORCID: 0000-0002-6376-0897 (2017) Hybrid plasma-catalytic steam reforming of toluene as a biomass tar model compound over Ni/Al₂O₃ catalysts. FUEL PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY, 166. pp. 269-275. ISSN 0378-3820, 1873-7188

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Abstract

In this study, plasma-catalytic steam reforming of toluene as a biomass tar model compound was carried out in a coaxial dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma reactor. The effect of Ni/Al<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf> catalysts with different nickel loadings (5–20 wt%) on the plasma-catalytic gas cleaning process was evaluated in terms of toluene conversion, gas yield, by-products formation and energy efficiency of the plasma-catalytic process. Compared to the plasma reaction without a catalyst, the combination of DBD with the Ni/Al<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf> catalysts significantly enhanced the toluene conversion, hydrogen yield and energy efficiency of the hybrid plasma process, while significantly reduced the production of organic by-products. Increasing Ni loading of the catalyst improved the performance of the plasma-catalytic processing of toluene, with the highest toluene conversion of 52% and energy efficiency of 2.6 g/kWh when placing the 20 wt% Ni/Al<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf> catalyst in the plasma. The possible reaction pathways in the hybrid plasma-catalytic process were proposed through the combined analysis of both gas and liquid products.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Plasma-catalysis, Non-thermal plasma, Dielectric barrier discharge, Biomass gasification, Tar removal
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	30 Jun 2017 09:20
Last Modified:	05 Jun 2025 13:54
DOI:	10.1016/j.fuproc.2017.06.001
Related Websites:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3008222