AN ACTIVE Pt/CeO₂ CATALYST FOR H₂ PRODUCTION BY AUTO-THERMAL REFORMING OF LPG

Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cell technology is expected to be one of the most environmental friendly next generation power source. The related hydrogen generating unit should satisfy some features, namely high fuel conversion, stable performance for repeated start-up and shut-down cycles, capability to process different hydrocarbons or alcohol.
Therefore, the preparation of highly active catalysts is a fundamental key issue to implementation of the fuel processor technologies. In this paper, as a part of development and testing of a LPG reforming systems for integration with PEM fuel cell, we investigated the C₃H₈ autothermal reforming (ATR) over a Pt/CeO₂ catalyst prepared by combustion synthesis technique. The catalytic activity as a function of O₂/C₃H₈, H₂O/C₃H₈, reaction temperature and gas hourly space velocity has been evaluated in microscale tests. The main goal of these experiments has been to define the operating parameters in order to assure higher activity and stability for prolonged startup and shut-down cycles, basic elements for the fuel processor realization. Moreover, the preliminary results of a 2 kWe hydrogen generator unit (HYGen I), operating on propane, where the Pt/CeO₂ prepared catalyst was used in the autothermal reforming step, have been reported.