Study on catalytic cracking of toluene as the model compound of tar by different catalysts

Abstract In this work, three catalysts (Ni‐based catalyst, Ni/Fe‐based catalyst, and Ni/Ce‐based catalyst) were developed for catalytic cracking of toluene as a model compound of tar in a fixed bed reactor. The characteristic of catalysts were determined by XRD, EDX, and BET. Meanwhile, the effects of calcination temperature and reaction temperature on syngas yield and toluene conversion rate were also studied. The results showed that the BET surface area was decreased with the rise of calcination temperature, while the content of hydrogen and syngas yield were decreased with the rise of calcination temperature. The three catalysts showed a promising application in catalytic reforming of toluene for hydrogen production. The catalytic performance of three catalysts was ordered as Ni/Ce > Ni/Fe > Ni > thermal cracking. The maximum syngas yield (1.44 L/g toluene) and toluene conversion rate (96.4%) were obtained for Ni/Ce‐based catalyst, which indicated the effectiveness of the Ni/Ce‐based catalyst.