Issue
Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering,
Vol.25, No.6, 1309-1315, 2008
Partial oxidation of n-butane over ceria-promoted nickel/calcium hydroxyapatite
LPG has good infrastructure and is anticipated to be used for production of hydrogen, and n-butane which constitutes a main component of LPG for vehicles. Partial oxidation (POX) of n-butane is investigated in this research by employing ceria-promoted Ni/calcium hydroxyapatite catalysts (CexNi2.5/Ca10(OH)2(PO4)6 x=0.1-0.3) which have recently been reported to exhibit good catalytic performance in POX of methane and propane. The experiments were carried out with changing ceria content, O2/n-C4H10 ratio and reaction temperature. As the O2/n-C4H10 ratio increased up to 2.75, the n-C4H10 conversion and H2 yield increased and the selectivity of methane and other hydrocarbons decreased. But with O2/n-C4H10=3.0, the n-C4H10 conversion and H2 yield decreased. Ce0.1Ni2.5/Ca10(OH)2(PO4)6 showed the highest n-C4H10 conversion and H2 yield on the whole. In durability tests, higher hydrogen yield and better catalyst stability were obtained with the O2/n-C4H10 ratio of 2.75 than with the ratio of 2.5.