Hydrogen production through oxidative steam reforming of acetic acid over bimetallic Ni-M (M: Pt, Ru, Rh) catalysts supported on mesostructured CeO2

This study evaluates the impact of the incorporation of noble metals (M: Pt, Ru, or Rh) to Ni catalysts supported on mesostructured CeO 2 (CeO 2 -m) for green hydrogen production through the oxidative steam reforming of acetic acid as biomass-derived compound obtained in fermentation or fast pyrolysis processes. Bimetallic catalyst formulation, including small amounts of noble metals, improved the Ni reducibility as evidenced by H 2 -TPR results. Catalytic results at 550 ºC demonstrate that the presence of noble metals in the catalyst formulation enhances catalytic activity in terms of acetic acid conversion and hydrogen yield compared to the unpromoted sample. Additionally, bimetallic samples show higher selectivity towards CO 2 related to their role in the water-gas shift reaction, with significantly lower selectivity to intermediate products (acetone and CO). The best catalytic performance showed by Ni-Pt/CeO 2 -m allows to get almost complete acetic acid conversion and the highest hydrogen yield (∼63 %) along with the lowest coke deposition (25.6 mg coke ·g cat −1 ·h −1 ). • Ni-M (M:Pt, Rh, Ru) catalysts were synthetized over mesostructured CeO2 for first time. • Ni-M/CeO 2 -m catalysts were tested in acetic acid oxidative steam reforming. • Noble metals improved Ni reducibility and enhanced hydrogen production. • Ni-Pt/CeO 2 -m and Ni-Rh/CeO 2 -m showed higher catalytic stability. • Ni-Pt/CeO 2 -m showed the highest hydrogen yield and lowest coke formation.