Reforming of bioethanol over Ni/Al2O3 and Ni/CeZrO2/Al2O3 catalysts in supercritical water for hydrogen production

Bioethanol was reformed in supercritical water (SCW) at 500 °C and 25 MPa on Ni/Al₂O₃ and Ni/CeZrO₂/Al₂O₃ catalysts to produce high-pressure hydrogen. The results were compared with non-catalytic reactions. Under supercritical water and in a non-catalytic environment, ethanol was reformed to H₂, CO₂ and CH₄ with small amounts of CO and C2 gas and liquid products. The presence of either Ni/Al₂O₃ or Ni/CeZrO₂/Al₂O₃ promoted reactions of ethanol reforming, dehydrogenation and decomposition. Acetaldehyde produced from the decomposition of ethanol was completely decomposed into CH₄ and CO, which underwent a further water-gas shift reaction in SCW. This led to great increases in ethanol conversion and H₂ yield on the catalysts of more than 3-4 times than that of the non-catalytic condition. For the catalytic operation, adding small amounts of oxygen at oxygen to ethanol molar ratio of 0.06 into the feed improved ethanol conversion, at the expense of some H₂ oxidized to water, resulting in a slightly lower H₂ yield. The ceria-zirconia promoted catalyst was more active than the unpromoted catalyst. On the promoted catalyst, complete ethanol conversion was achieved and no coke formation was found. The ceria-zirconia promoter has important roles in improving the decomposition of acetaldehyde, the enhancement of the water-gas shift as well as the methanation reactions to give an extremely low CO yield and a tremendously high H₂/CO ratio. The SCW environment for ethanol reforming caused the transformation of gamma-alumina towards the corundum phase of the alumina support in the Ni/Al₂O₃ catalyst, but this transformation was slowed down by the presence of the ceria-zirconia promoter.     

Evaluation of Ni/Y2O3/Al2O3 catalysts for hydrogen production by autothermal reforming of methane

Ni/xY₂O₃–Al₂O₃ (x = 5, 10, 15, 20 wt%) catalysts were prepared by sequential impregnation synthesis. The catalytic performance for the autothermal reforming of methane was evaluated and compared with Ni/γ-Al₂O₃ catalyst. The physicochemical properties of catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-Ray Photoelectron Spectrometer (XPS), Thermo Gravimetric Analyzer (TGA) and H₂-temperature programmed reduction techniques (TPR). The decrease of nickel particle size and the change of reducibility were found with Y modification. The CH₄ conversion increased with elevating levels of Y₂O₃ from 5% to 10%, then decreased with Y content from 10% to 20%. Ni/xY₂O₃–Al₂O₃ catalysts maintained high activity after 24 h on stream, while Ni/Al₂O₃ had a significant deactivation. The characterization of spent catalysts indicated that the addition of Y retarded Ni sintering and decreased the amount of coke.     

Selective CO oxidation on Cu promoted Pt/Al2O3 and Pt/Nb2O5 catalysts

Pt–Cu catalysts supported on Al₂O₃ and Nb₂O₅ were studied for use in selective CO oxidation. The addition of copper enhanced the activity and selectivity of Pt–Cu/Nb₂O₅ at lower temperatures when compared to Pt/Nb₂O₅. On the other hand, copper addition was not beneficial in the case of Al₂O₃ supported catalysts.     

Effect of Al2O3 content on the adsorptive properties of Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 for removal of odorant sulfur compounds

Cu/ZnO/Al₂O₃ adsorbents for removal of odorant sulfur compounds were prepared with various Al/Cu molar ratios by co-precipitation method. The sulfur removing ability as a function of Al/Cu molar ratio of the adsorbents for t-butyl mercaptan (TBM), tetrahydro thiophene (THT), dimethyl disulfide (DMS) and H₂S were investigated at 250 °C and 6000 h⁻¹ space velocity. Based on the results of adsorption capacity and characterization by various techniques, the optimum Al/Cu ratio for maximum sulfur removal capacity is found to be at Al/Cu molar ratio of 0.15 which possesses the well-dispersed Cu species with high reducibility. The adsorption capacity is highest for H₂S followed by TBM, DMS and THT. The main role of Al₂O₃ component is to provide the dispersion of CuO species homogeneously with small particle formation and high reducibility.     

Steam reforming of methanol over Cu/ZnO/ZrO2/Al2O3 catalyst

Steam reforming of methanol was investigated over Cu–ZnO–ZrO₂–Al₂O₃ catalysts at 473 and 573 K. The Cu:Zn:(Al + Zr) molar ratio was 3:3:4; however, the Zr:Al molar ratio was varied and the catalysts were pretreated at different calcination and reduction temperatures. The synthesized catalysts were characterized by N₂ physisorption, temperature-programmed reduction with H₂ (H₂-TPR), X-ray diffraction, oxidized surface TPR, and infrared spectroscopy after carbon monoxide chemisorption. The crystalline size of Cu decreased on increasing the calcination temperatures from 573 to 623 K and increased on increasing the reduction temperatures from 523 to 573 K. Among the tested catalysts, the Cu–ZnO–ZrO₂ catalyst exhibited the highest and lowest hydrogen-formation rates at 473 and 573 K, respectively. After the reaction at 573 K, all the tested catalysts exhibited an increase in the Cu crystalline size, causing the catalyst deactivation. Among the tested catalysts, the Cu–ZnO–ZrO₂–Al₂O₃ catalyst, where the Cu:Zn:Al:Zr molar ratio was 3:3:2:2, showed the highest and most stable catalytic activity at 573 K. Cu dispersion and catalyst composition affected the catalytic performance for steam reforming of methanol.     

Mesoporous zirconia-modified clays supported nickel catalysts for CO and CO2 methanation

The Ni catalysts supported on a new structure with zirconia nanoparticles highly dispersed on the partly damaged clay layers has been prepared by the incipient wetness impregnation method and the new structure of the support has been prepared in one pot by the hydrothermal treatment of the mixture of the clay suspension and the ZrO(NO₃)₂ solution. The catalytic performances for the CO and CO₂ methanation on the catalysts have been investigated at a temperature range from 300 °C to 500 °C at atmospheric pressure. The catalysts and supports have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmittance electron microscopy (TEM), H₂ temperature-programmed reduction (H₂-TPR), nitrogen adsorption–desorption, and thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA). It is found that the zirconia-modified clays have the typical bimodal pore size distribution. Most of the pores with the sizes smaller than 10 nm are resulted from the zirconia pillared clays and the mesopores with the sizes larger than 10 nm and the macropores with the sizes larger than 50 nm are resulted from the partly damaged clay layers. The bimodal pore structure is beneficial to the dispersion of Ni on the layers of the zirconia-modified clays and the increase in Ni loading. The zirconia nanoparticles are highly dispersed on the partly damaged clay layers. Nickel oxide in cubic phase is the only Ni species that can be detected by XRD. The nickel oxide nanoparticles with the sizes of 12 nanometers or more are well dispersed on the zirconia-modified clay layers, which are observed to be buried in the stack layers of zirconia. The presence of nickel oxide in six different forms could be perceived on the new structure. Five of them except the Ni species that forms the spinel phase with Al in clays can be reduced to the active Ni species for the CO and CO₂ methanation. But the activity of the Ni species is different, which is associated with the chemical environment at which the Ni species is located. The catalyst with the higher zirconia content, which also has the larger specific surface area and pore volume, exhibits the better catalytic performance for the CO or CO₂ methanation. Zirconia in the catalyst is responsible for the dispersion of the Ni species, and it prevents the metallic Ni nanoparticles from sintering during the process of the reaction. In addition, it is also responsible for the reduction of the inactive carbon deposition. The catalyst with 15 wt.% zirconia content has the highest CO conversion of about 100% and the highest methane selectivity of about 93% at 450 °C for CO methanation, and the catalyst with 20% zirconia content has the CO₂ conversion of about 80% and the highest methane selectivity of about 99% for CO₂ methanation at 350 °C. The catalyst with 15 wt.% zirconia possesses promising stability and no distinct deactivation could be perceived after reaction for 40 h. This new catalyst has great potential to be used in the conversion of the blast furnace gas (BFG) and the coke oven gas (COG) to methane.     

Hydroprocessing of Jatropha oil over NiMoCe/Al2O3 catalyst

The non-sulfided NiMoCe/Al₂O₃ catalyst was developed to produce green diesel from the hydroprocessing of Jatropha oil. The NiMoCe/Al₂O₃ catalysts were prepared by impregnation and characterized by N₂-BET, SEM, XRD and TPD-H_ads techniques. The straight chain alkanes ranging from C15 to C18 were the main components in product oil. The maximum yield of C15-C18 alkanes of 80%, selectivity of 90% and conversion of 89% were obtained at 370 °C, 3.5 MPa and 0.9 h⁻¹. Influence of reaction temperature (280–400 °C) and reaction time (10–163 h) on the composition of product oil were discussed. The experimental results demonstrated that a suitable amount of metal Ce doping on the NiMo/Al₂O₃ catalyst presented stable catalytic performance and enhanced Jatropha oil conversion as well as C15-C18 fraction selectivity.     

Methanol steam reforming in an Al2O3 supported thin Pd-layer membrane reactor over Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst

In this experimental study, a membrane reactor housing a composite membrane constituted by a thin Pd-layer supported onto Al₂O₃ is utilized to perform methanol steam reforming reaction to produce high-grade hydrogen for PEM fuel cell applications. The influence of various parameters such as temperature, from 280 to 330 °C, and pressure, from 1.5 to 2.5 bar, is analyzed. A commercial Cu/Zn-based catalyst is packed in the annulus of the membrane reactor and the experimental tests are performed at space velocity equal to 18,500 h⁻¹ and H₂O:CH₃OH feed molar ratio equal to 2.5:1. Results in terms of methanol conversion, hydrogen recovery, hydrogen yield and products selectivities are given. As a best result of this work, 85% of methanol conversion and a highly pure hydrogen stream permeated through the membrane with a CO content lower than 10 ppm were reached at 330 °C and 2.5 bar. Furthermore, a comparison between the experimental results obtained in this work and literature data is proposed and discussed.     

Photocatalytic hydrogen production from aqueous methanol solution with CuO/Al2O3/TiO2 nanocomposite

The photocatalytic hydrogen production from aqueous methanol solution was investigated with ZnO/TiO₂, SnO/TiO₂, CuO/TiO₂, Al₂O₃/TiO₂ and CuO/Al₂O₃/TiO₂ nanocomposites. A mechanical mixing method, followed by the solid-state reaction at elevated temperature, was used for the preparation of nanocomposite photocatalyst. Among these nanocomposite photocatalysts, the maximal photocatalytic hydrogen production was observed with CuO/Al₂O₃/TiO₂ nanocomposites. A variety of components of CuO/Al₂O₃/TiO₂ photocatalysts were tested for the enhancement of H₂ formation. The optimal component was 0.2 wt% CuO/0.3 wt% Al₂O₃/TiO₂. The activity exhibited approximately tenfold enhancement at the optimum loading, compared with that with pure P-25 TiO₂. Nano-sized TiO₂ photocatalytic hydrogen technology has great potential for low-cost, environmentally friendly solar-hydrogen production to support the future hydrogen economy.     

A strategy to regenerate coked and sintered Ni/Al2O3 catalyst for methanation reaction

Supported Ni/Al₂O₃ catalysts are widely used in chemical industries. Regeneration of the deactivated Ni catalysts caused by sintering of Ni nanoparticles and carbon deposition after long-term operation is significant but still very challenging. In this work, a feasible strategy via solid-phase reaction between NiO and Al₂O₃ followed by a controlled reduction is developed which can burn out the deposited carbon and re-disperse the Ni nanoparticles well, thus regenerating the deactivated Ni catalysts. To demonstrate the feasibility of this method, Ni catalyst supported on α-Al₂O₃ (Ni/Al₂O₃) for CO methanation reaction was selected as a model system. The structure and composition of the fresh, deactivated and regenerated Ni/Al₂O₃ catalysts were comprehensively characterized by various techniques. The reduction and redistribution of Ni species as well as the interfacial interaction between Ni nanoparticles and Al₂O₃ support were investigated in detail. It is found that calcining the deactivated Ni/Al₂O₃ in air at high temperature can burn out the coke, while the sintered Ni species can combine with superficial Al₂O₃ to form a surface NiAl₂O₄ spinel phase through the solid-phase reaction. After the controlled reduction of the NiAl₂O₄ spinel, highly dispersed Ni nanoparticles on Al₂O₃ support are re-generated, thus achieving the regeneration of the deactivated Ni/Al₂O₃. Interestingly, compared with the fresh Ni/Al₂O₃ catalyst, the sizes of Ni nanoparticles became even smaller in the regenerated ones. The regenerated Ni/Al₂O₃ showed much enhanced catalytic activity in CO methanation and became more resistant to carbon deposition, due to the better dispersed Ni nanoparticles and strengthened interaction between Ni and Al₂O₃ support. Our work not only addresses the long existing catalyst regeneration issue, but also provides effective and renewable Ni-based catalysts for CO methanation.     

Al2O3-coated nanoporous TiO2 electrode for solid-state dye-sensitized solar cell

This paper reports the preparation of a core-shell nanoporous electrode consisting of an inner TiO₂ porous matrix and a thin overlayer of Al₂O₃, and its application for solid-state dye-sensitized solar cell using p-CuI as hole conductor. Al₂O₃ overlayer was coated onto TiO₂ porous film by the surface sol–gel process. The role of Al₂O₃ layer thickness on the cell performance was investigated. The solar cells fabricated from Al₂O₃-coated electrodes showed superior performance to the bare TiO₂ electrode. Under illumination of AM 1.5 simulated sunlight (89 mW/cm²), a ca. 0.19 nm Al₂O₃ overlayer increased the photo-to-electric conversion efficiency from 1.94% to 2.59%.     

Non-thermal plasma assisted synthesis and physicochemical characterizations of Co and Cu doped Ni/Al2O3 nanocatalysts used for dry reforming of methane

Ni/Al₂O₃ nanocatalysts doped with Co and Cu were prepared by co-impregnation and modified by non-thermal plasma. The nanocatalysts were characterized by XRD, FESEM, TEM, EDX dot-mapping, BET, FTIR, TGA-DTG, and XPS analysis. According to XRD and XPS results, good interaction between active phase and support can be observed in both Ni–Co/Al₂O₃ and Ni–Cu/Al₂O₃ nanocatalysts. A uniform morphology, high surface area, and well dispersed particles of active sites in Ni–Co/Al₂O₃ nanocatalyst were observed that shows the effect of cobalt in controlling Ni ensemble size. In contrast Ni–Cu/Al₂O₃ nanocatalyst had no homogenous dispersion of active phase due to sintering of copper particles. The activity measurements illustrated better Ni–Co/Al₂O₃ nanocatalyst activity in comparison to Ni/Al₂O₃ and Ni–Cu/Al₂O₃ in terms of CH₄ and CO₂ conversion. H₂ and CO yield were higher for Ni–Co/Al₂O₃ and higher H₂/Co ratio was obtained as well. Whereas Ni/Al₂O₃ and Ni–Co/Al₂O₃ did not experience deactivation, Ni–Cu/Al₂O₃ suffered from activity loss by ca. 22% and 16% for CH₄ and CO₂ conversion, respectively. Sintering most likely happened in Ni–Cu/Al₂O₃ nanocatalyst due to high temperature of calcination while cobalt by controlling the size of Ni particles, alternated the size of active sites to a size range in which carbon formation was suppressed. Ni/Al ratio from XPS analysis which signifies Ni dispersion on alumina support was 5.15, 9.16, and 6.35 for Ni/Al₂O₃, Ni–Co/Al₂O₃, and Ni–Cu/Al₂O₃ nanocatalysts respectively. The highest ratio of Ni/Al was for Ni–Co/Al₂O₃ nanocatalyst that shows the best coverage of support by Ni active phase in this nanocatalyst.     

Effects of modifying Ni/Al2O3 catalyst with cobalt on the reforming of CH4 with CO2 and cracking of CH4 reactions

Alumina supported nickel (Ni/Al₂O₃), nickel–cobalt (Ni–Co/Al₂O₃) and cobalt (Co/Al₂O₃) catalysts containing 15% metal were synthesized, characterized and tested for the reforming of CH₄ with CO₂ and CH₄ cracking reactions. In the Ni–Co/Al₂O₃ catalysts Ni–Co alloys were detected and the surface metal sites decreased with decrease in Ni:Co ratio. Turnover frequencies of CH₄ were determined for both reactions. The initial turnover frequencies of reforming (TOF_DRM) for Ni–Co/Al₂O₃ were greater than that for Ni/Al₂O₃, which suggested a higher activity of alloy sites. The initial turnover frequencies for cracking (TOF_CRK) did not follow this trend. The highest average TOF_DRM, H₂:CO ratio and TOF_CRK were observed for a catalyst containing a Ni:Co ratio of 3:1. This catalyst also had the maximum carbon deposited during reforming and produced the maximum reactive carbon during cracking. It appeared that carbon was an intermediate product of reforming and the best catalyst was able to most effectively crack CH₄ and oxidize carbon to CO by CO₂.     

Ammonia decomposition over commercial Ru/Al2O3 catalyst: An experimental evaluation at different operative pressures and temperatures

The ammonia decomposition process for hydrogen production was studied experimentally in a fixed bed tubular micro-reactor (I.D. = 1 cm and h = 20 cm) filled with 15 ml of ACTA Hypermec 10010 Ru catalyst. With the aim of pointing out the best process conditions, experiments were carried out varying the reaction temperature between 400 and 500 °C, the feeding gas pressure between 1 and 10 bar and the GHSV (Gas Hourly Space Velocity) between 300 and 2400 h⁻¹. To maintain the temperature as uniform as possible along the reactor axis, a 3 zone heater was used and each zone was controlled independently. An acid H₂SO₄ trap was used downstream the reactor to remove by neutralization the residual ammonia from the product gas. Moreover, the residual ammonia amount in the gas and thus the NH₃ dissociation were evaluated for the catalyst in different operative conditions by measuring the PH of the trap and its changing rate over time. Dissociations close to the chemical equilibrium were obtained for every GHSV and temperature we tested with a pressures of 1 and 5 bar in the reactor. In particular, the dissociation was always higher than 99% at 1 bar, while at 5 bar it varied from 96% at 400 °C to 99% at 500 °C. At 10 bar the chemical equilibrium was reached for all GHSVs only at 450 °C and 500 °C with dissociations equal to 95.5% and 97.2%. At 400 °C a dissociation close to the chemical equilibrium (92%) was reached only for a GHSV of 300 h⁻¹ while for the remaining GHSVs the dissociation was always lower, down to 80.8% for a GHSV equal to 2400 h⁻¹.     

Ni/CeO2 catalysts with high CO2 methanation activity and high CH4 selectivity at low temperatures

CO₂ methanation was performed over 10 wt%Ni/CeO₂, 10 wt%Ni/α-Al₂O₃, 10 wt%Ni/TiO₂, and 10 wt%Ni/MgO, and the effect of support materials on CO₂ conversion and CH₄ selectivity was examined. Catalysts were prepared by a wet impregnation method, and characterized by BET, XRD, H₂-TPR and CO₂-TPD. Ni/CeO₂ showed high CO₂ conversion especially at low temperatures compared to Ni/α-Al₂O₃, and the selectivity to CH₄ was very close to 1. The surface coverage by CO₂-derived species on CeO₂ surface and the partial reduction of CeO₂ surface could result in the high CO₂ conversion over Ni/CeO₂. In addition, superior CO methanation activity over Ni/CeO₂ led to the high CH₄ selectivity.     

Novel Al2O3-based compressive seals for IT-SOFC applications

Novel compressive Al₂O₃-based seals were developed and characterized under simulated intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cell (IT-SOFC) environment. The seals were prepared by tape casting, mainly composed of fine Al₂O₃ powder with various contents of fine Al powder addition. The leakage rates were determined at 800 °C under 0.14–0.69 MPa compressive stresses, and the stabilities were evaluated at 750 °C under constant 0.35 MPa compressive stress. The leakage rates at 800 °C were in range of 0.2–0.01 sccm cm⁻¹, decreasing with increasing the compressive stress and Al content; Al addition significantly improved the stability, the leakage rate with 20 wt% Al addition was as low as 0.025 sccm cm⁻¹ at 800 °C under 0.35 MPa compressive stress with a gauge pressure of 6.9 kPa, and exhibited good stability at 750 °C. Single cell test also confirmed the effectiveness of the tape cast Al₂O₃-based seal for planar IT-SOFC applications.     

Effect of Pr addition on the properties of Ni/Al2O3 catalysts with an application in the autothermal reforming of methane

Ni/xPr-Al₂O₃ (x = 5, 10, 15, 20 wt%) catalysts with an application in autothermal reforming of methane were prepared by sequential impregnation synthesis; its catalytic performance was evaluated and compared with that of Ni/γ-Al₂O₃ catalyst; the physicochemical properties of the catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-Ray Photoelectron Spectrometer (XPS), Thermo Gravimetric Analyzer (TGA) and H₂-temperature programmed reduction techniques (TPR). The results showed that Pr addition promoted the reduction of nickel particle size on the surface. TPR experiments suggested a heterogeneous distribution of nickel oxide particles over xPr-Al₂O₃ supports and the promotion of NiO reduction by Pr modification. The CH₄ conversion increased with elevating levels of Pr addition from 5% to 10%, then decreased with Pr content from 10% to 20%. For the stability catalytic tests, Ni/xPr-Al₂O₃ catalysts maintained the high activity after 48 h while Ni/Al₂O₃ had a significant deactivation.     

Hydrogen production by steam reforming of model bio-oil using structured Ni/Al2O3 catalysts

This study focuses on hydrogen production from the steam reforming of model bio-oil over Ni/Al₂O₃ catalysts prepared in two different geometries (monolith and pellet) using the dip-coating and wet impregnation methods and characterized using Powder X-Ray diffraction, Temperature Programmed Reduction, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and BET Surface area analysis. The effects of the catalyst geometry and reforming temperatures were studied by carrying out experiments at the optimal conditions of T = (823, 923, 1023) K and S/C ratio = 13 determined from the thermodynamic analysis of the process prior to the experiments using the process simulator PRO-II. The experimental results showed high steady state H₂ yield corresponding to 2.58 and 1.73 mol (out of 5.13 mol) using monolithic and the pelletized catalysts respectively. The product distribution achieved with the monolithic catalyst was closer to the thermodynamic results suggesting a higher selectivity to hydrogen production.     

Hydrogen permeation on Al2O3-based nickel/cobalt composite membranes

Al₂O₃ was synthesized using the sol-gel process with aluminum isopropoxide as the precursor and primary distilled water as the solvent. Nickel and cobalt metal powders were used to increase the strength of the membranes. The Al₂O₃-based membranes were prepared using HPS following a mechanical alloying process. The phase transformation, thermal evolution, surface and cross-section morphology of Al₂O₃ and Al₂O₃-based membranes were characterized by XRD, TG-DTA and FE-SEM. The hydrogen permeation of Al₂O₃-based membranes was examined at 300–473 K under increasing pressure. Hydrogen permeation flux through an Al₂O₃-20wt%Co membrane was obtained to 2.36 mol m⁻² s⁻¹. Reaction enthalpy was calculated to 4.5 kJ/mol using a Van’t Hoff’s plot.     

Flowerlike microspheres catalyst NiO/La2O3 for ethanol-H2 production

Catalysts of nano-sized nickel oxide particles based on flowerlike lanthanum oxide microspheres with high disperse were prepared to achieve simultaneous dehydrogenation of ethanol and water molecules on multi-active sites. XRD, SEM, 77K N₂ adsorption were used to analyze and observe the catalysts’ structure, morphology and porosity. Catalytic parameters with respect to yield of H₂, activity, selectivity towards gaseous products and stability with time-on-stream and time-on-off-stream were all determined. This special morphology NiO/La₂O₃ catalyst represented more than 1000 h time-on-stream stability test and 500 h time-on-off-stream stability test for hydrogen fuel production from ethanol steam reforming at 300 °C without any deactivation. During the 1000 h time-on-stream stability test, ethanol–water mixtures could be converted into H₂, CO, and CH₄ with average selectivity values of 57.0, 20.1, 19.6 and little CO₂ of 3.2 mol%, respectively, and average ethanol conversion values of 96.7 mol%, with H₂ yield of 1.61 mol H₂/mol C₂H₅OH. During the 500 h time-on-off-stream stability test, ethanol–water mixtures could be converted into H₂, CO, CH₄ and CO₂ with average selectivity values of 65.1, 17.3, 15.1 and 2.5 mol%, respectively, and average ethanol conversion values of 80.0 mol%. For the ethanol-H₂ and petrolic hybrid vehicle (EH–HV), the combustion value is the most important factor. So, it was very suitable for the EH–HV application that the low temperature ethanol steam reforming products’ distribution was with high H₂, CO, CH₄ and very low CO₂ selectivity over the special NiO/La₂O₃ flowerlike microspheres.