Construção de uma unidade de reforma a vapor e produção de hidrogênio (H2) a partir do biogás

Abstract

Hydrogen is a low impact fuel in term of gaseous emission to the atmosphere, and is thus deemed as the most promising alternative to fossil fuels for use in urban centers. Low cost hydrogen can be produced by the catalytic reform of light hydrocarbons. In this study we present the steps of design, construction and assessment of the performance of a steam reform system of biogas for the production hydrogen as an energy vector. Every constituent part of the system was designed to assemble up into a bench scale reform unity. The catalytic bed of the reform unity used Nickel deposited on γ-Al2O3 as catalyst, a low cost material suited to this purpose. The catalyst was prepared by impregnation of the γ-Al2O3 support with nickel chloride solution followed by reduction in H2 atmosphere for 4h at 570oC. The catalyst thus prepared was morphologically characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The occurrence of the chemical processes of steam reform have in the reactor chamber was indirectly confirmed by Cyclic Voltammetry of a electrolytic solution in which the gaseous products collected at the reactor exhaust were dissolved. The system was kept under continuous operation in order to evaluate its general performance and those of its constituent parts as well. This allowed us to assess the functionality of the system components, to identify design faults, and necessary improvements in order to guarantee a more controlled operation and improved overall performance.