Sulfur-tolerant Pt/CeO₂/Al₂O₃ catalyst I. Performance of hydrogen production via steam reforming of gasoline and catalyst characterization

The stability and sulfur tolerance of Pt/CeO₂/Al₂O₃ catalyst in steam reforming (SR) of retail gasoline was studied. SR of various typical model components, i.e., toluene, n-heptane, iso-octene, and cyclohexane, in gasoline with or without sulfur was performed. Pt/CeO₂/Al₂O₃ catalyst were characterized to reveal the difference in SR of retail gasoline and iso-octane. In the absence of sulfur, PVCeO₂/Al₂O₃ catalyst exhibited good activity and stability in SR of the said gasoline model components. In the presence of 300 μg/g sulfur, conversions of toluene and cyclohexane decreased significantly. Although initial conversion of 1-octene reduced only slightly but the steadiness of reaction declined. Sulfur imposed no influence on catalyst performance in n-heptane SR. Deactivation of the catalyst in toluene SR, iso-octene, and cyclohexane with sulfur was due to the destroy of Pt?CeO₂ bond, which accelerated surface carbon deposition.