The effect of electrolyte wettability on reforming catalyst in direct ethanol MCFC

Abstract To overcome the poisoning of reforming catalyst contacted with the electrolyte without degradations of performance and long-term stability, we proposed on the development of support which has low wettability to electrolyte, but still keeps high activity on steam reforming of bio-ethanol. To perform the wettability measurement, a couple of supports (MgO and PbO) were pressed to form disc-shaped specimen with relatively low porosity, and subjected to an on-line optical contact angle measurement device at MCFC operating condition. The results of wettability of the supports indicated that PbO showed low wettability to the carbonates melts giving high contact angle. The microstructure of unreacted PbO layer might be contributed to its low wettability. The highest activity was achieved with Ni/MgO, while the lowest wettability was attained with PbO as a support. Ni/1MgO·1PbO seemed to be the most promising candidate for avoiding the reforming catalyst from poisoning.