Effects of Current on Microcosmic Properties of Catalyst and Reforming of Bio-oil

Highly effective production of hydrogen from bio-oil was achieved by using a low-temperatureelectrochemical catalytic reforming approach over the conventional Ni-based reforming cat-alyst (NiO-Al2O3), where an AC electronic current passed through the catalyst bed. Thepromoting effects of current on the bio-oil reforming were studied. It was found that theperformance of the bio-oil reforming was remarkably enhanced by the current which passedthrough the catalyst. The effects of currents on the microcosmic properties of the catalyst,including the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area, pore diameter, pore volume, thesize of the crystallites and the reduction level of NiO into Ni, were carefully characterized byBET, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscope.The desorption of the thermal electrons from the electrified catalyst was directly observedby the TOF (time of flight) measurements. The mechanism of the electrochemical catalyticreforming of bio-oil is discussed based on the above investigation.