The effect of surface area over the ZnO-supported platinum catalysts on the catalytic performance of steam reforming of ethanol (SRE) has been studied. Various surface area of ZnO is prepared through two routes: reflux (assigned as ZnO-R), thermal decomposition under air (assigned as ZnO-A) and under N2 (assigned as ZnO-N). Also, the commercial ZnO (assigned as ZnO-C) is chosen as reference. Four Pt/ZnO catalysts (3 wt% loading of Pt) are prepared by incipient wetness impregnation (assigned as Pt-R, Pt-A, Pt-N and Pt-C, respectively). The BET measurement shows that the ZnO-A (89 m 2 ·g −1 ) support possesses a higher surface area than the ZnO-R (1.3 m 2 ·g −1 ). The catalytic activity on the SRE reaction is evaluated in a fixed-bed reactor under 22,000 h −1 GHSV and H2O/EtOH molar ratio of 13. The results show that total ethanol conversion is observed at 225• C and 400• C over the Pt-A and Pt-R catalysts, respectively. When the temperature exceeds 350• C, acetaldehyde decomposition and acetaldehyde steam reforming are competitive on the platinum catalysts to promote H2 production. The small particle size catalyst of Pt-A favors the decomposition of acetaldehyde to produce CH4 and CO, and the large particle size catalyst of Pt-R favors the steam reforming of acetaldehyde to produce CH4 and CO2.
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