Search

• NiY x Zr 0.85-x O y catalysts with Y-Zr-O solid solution were prepared by EISA. • NiY 0.2 Zr 0.65 O 1.75 exhibits high hydrogen yield of 3.0 mol-H 2 /mol-HAc in ATR of HAc. • Strong interaction between Ni and Y-Zr-O support inhibited sintering. • High oxygen mobility provided by Y-Zr-O promoted the gasification of C* species. Auto-thermal reforming (ATR) is an effective route to extract hydrogen from both water and acetic acid (HAc) from bio-oil. With addition of oxygen into ATR, the reaction heat can be balanced, but the migration of oxygen for oxidation of carbonous species from HAc is still a concern. Here, we report NiY x Zr 0.85-x O y (x = 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.85) catalysts with Y-Zr-O solid solution as support for hydrogen production via ATR of HAc. The oxygen vacancies provided by Y-Zr-O solid solution are beneficial to activating surface oxygen species and improve oxygen mobility of the nickel catalyst, thus the oxygen transfer from reactant to product CO and CO 2 was enhanced. On the other hand, Ni nanoparticles, the active metal, are highly dispersed on the Y-Zr-O solid solution carrier. Consequently, the NiY 0.2 Zr 0.65 O 1.75 catalyst exhibits the highest activity and enhanced stability: the acetic acid conversion is near 100 % and the yield of hydrogen reaches 3.0 mol-H 2 /mol-HAc, and no obviously coking is found after the reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]