Self-regenerable carbon nanofiber supported Fe – Mo2C catalyst for CH4-CO2 assisted reforming of biomass to hydrogen rich syngas

Abstract In-situ self-regenerable Fe / Fe3C – Mo2C – CNF catalyst was developed and evaluated extensively over 15 cycles of CH4 – CO2 assisted biomass reforming. In-situ regeneration was observed through nucleation on carbon saturated Fe3Cx sites due to abundance of free-C from reaction and undercoordinated carbon in support. Molybdenum existed as stable β-Mo2C whereas Fe composition changed from Fe° sites to Fe3Cx. Due to highly dispersed small nanoclusters ( 60 % and H2:CO ratio of 2–4. Hydrodeoxygenation reforming of biomass was typically between 40–60 % of the amount of oxygenates.