Advanced Reaction Systems for Hydrogen Production

Abstract

[EN] This PhD work started in March 2010 with the support of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) under the program named “Formación de Personal Investigador” at the Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department in the Faculty of Engineering of Bilbao. The major part of the Thesis work was carried out in the mentioned department, as a member of the Sustainable Process Engineering (SuPrEn) research group. In addition, this PhD Thesis includes the research work developed during a period of 6 months at the Institut für Mikrotechnik Mainz GmbH, IMM, in Germany. During the four years of the Thesis, conventional and microreactor systems were tested for several feedstocks renewable and non-renewable, gases and liquids through several reforming processes in order to produce hydrogen. For this purpose, new catalytic formulations which showed high activity, selectivity and stability were design. As a consequence, the PhD work performed allowed the publication of seven scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals.

[ES] La presente Tesis Doctoral tuvo su inicio en Marzo de 2010 gracias a la obtención de la beca perteneciente al programa de “Formación de Personal de investigación” impulsado por la Universidad del País Vasco / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU). Esta Tesis ha sido desarrollada prácticamente en su totalidad en el Departamento de Ingeniería Química y del Medio Ambiente de la Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de Bilbao, como miembro del grupo de investigación Sustainable Process Engineering (SuPrEn). Además, esta Tesis incluye el trabajo realizado durante el periodo de seis meses de estancia pre-doctoral en el centro Institut für Mikrotechnik Mainz GmbH, IMM, de Alemania.