Promoting effect of Pt addition to Ni/CeO₂/Al₂O₃ catalyst for steam gasification of biomass

The modification of Ni/CeO₂/Al₂O₃ with Pt can make the activation by H₂ reduction unnecessary, and this indicates that the Pt/Ni/CeO₂/Al₂O₃ catalyst can be activated automatically by the compounds contained in tar. This can be explained by the enhancement of the Ni reducibility by the addition of Pt. The results of the temperature programmed reduction with H₂ also support this enhancement. Furthermore, the addition of 0.1% Pt to Ni/CeO₂/Al₂O₃ (4 wt% Ni, 30 wt% CeO₂) enhanced the performance in the steam gasification of biomass, compared to Ni/Al₂O₃ and Ni/CeO₂/Al₂O₃ in terms of low tar yield and high gas yield. This can be related to the Pt-Ni alloy formation indicated by the extended X-ray absorption fine structure analysis.