Hydrogen production via aqueous - Phase glucose reforming: A thermodynamic approach

Abstract

In the present work the thermodynamic analysis of aqueous - phase glucose reforming reaction has been studied. For the investigation purposes the temperature range of 0 - 100°C and atmospheric total pressure have been considered. The equilibrium constant as a temperature function and the conversion of glucose to hydrogen and carbon dioxide were estimated. It was found that at almost 45°C the reaction's conversion approaches 100%. It has been reported that except for hydrogen and carbon oxides, possible products of the reaction are mostly alkanes. According to thermodynamics, glucose can be totally converted to alkanes even at very low temperature values. However, the reforming of the alkanes under the same conditions has a negligible conversion (∼0%) to hydrogen. The effect of water/carbon ratio was also examined. Results showed that as the above ratio increases conversion to hydrogen increases intensely. The effect of pressure on glucose reforming reaction was considered as well. The thermodynamic analysis showed, as expected, that total pressure affects negatively the conversion of the reaction.