Catalytic hydrogen production over RhPd/CeO2 catalysts and CO purification over Au/TiO2 catalysts

• Autores: Núria Jiménez Divins
• Directores de la Tesis: Jordi Llorca Piqué (dir. tes.)
• Lectura: En la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) ( España ) en 2015
• Idioma: inglés
• Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: José Antonio Odriozola Gordon (presid.), Jordi Fraxedas (secret.), José Juan Calvino Gámez (voc.)
• Materias:
  • Física
    • Física del estado sólido
      • Superficies
  • Ciencias tecnológicas
    • Ingeniería y tecnología químicas
• Enlaces
  • Tesis en acceso abierto en: TDX
• Resumen

  • This Thesis focuses on the study of the catalytic production of hydrogen from a biofuel, namely the bioethanol. It also studies the subsequent purification of pre-cleaned reformate streams. The end use of the hydrogen produced is to feed fuel cells to power portable and mobile applications. In this Thesis, two types of catalysts have been developed. One consisting of RhPd/CeO2 catalysts aimed at generating hydrogen via the ethanol steam reforming. On the other hand, Au/TiO2 catalysts have been investigated to eliminate carbon monoxide from reformate streams. The developed catalysts have been tested under practical operational conditions. The developed catalysts have been characterized ex situ, in situ and under reaction conditions. The operando studies allowed for the investigation of the reorganization of the metals driven by the reactive atmosphere. Finally, the miniaturization of the hydrogen production and purification scale has been investigated. To achieve this goal, the developed catalysts have been implemented on microreactors composed of channels measuring only few microns.