Steam Reforming of Methane and Higher Hydrocarbons

Higher Hydrocarbons. - A number of papers describing the steam reforming of higher hydrocarbons are particularly concerned with the subject of carbon deposition on the catalysts. The subject of carbon deposition on nickel catalysts is considered to be somewhat outside the subject of this review, especially as the subject is covered by two excellent recent discussions of papers on carbon deposition and coking during steam reforming, methanation, and other reactions.202 203 

Two papers have appeared on the kinetics of the steam reforming of heptane over nickel catalysts.205 206 The first concerns the steam reforming of heptane at low concentrations for injection into internal combustion engines the catalyst was Ni-Al203 and the reaction temperature was in the range 360-406 °C.205 The second concerned an evaluation of the intrinsic steam reforming kinetic parameters from rate measurements on full-size particles of a Ni-MgO catalyst in the temperature range 450-550 °C.206 

Acknowledgements. The author would like to thank Frans Feil and Peter van der Wal for help with literature searching for parts of this review. He also wishes to thank Anke Bakker for having critically read the manuscript and having checked the references. 

A major objective of catalyst science is to understand the links between the structure of a catalyst and its activity, its selectivity, and its lifetime. Since new experimental methods can offer a chance to explore these relationships in more detail they are crucially important to the development of the field and they are continuously evaluated until the worth of their contribution can be properly assessed. 

Neutron scattering is still an immature technique capable of development in many directions and this review makes an attempt to identify those areas where it can provide unique information about catalysts and where progress can be expected in the future. This review is complementary to a number of others which have appeared in recent years which cover the applications of neutron scattering to the studies of the dynamics and structure of physisorbed gases1 and molecular vibrations.2 In addition the theoretical and experimental background to this present review has been described elsewhere3 and it will not be repeated. Ref. 3 also contains a discussion of those properties of the neutron which make it especially valuable as an experimental probe. 

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