The structure and surface properties of monometallic (Co or Ni) and bimetallic CoNi catalysts supported on MgAl 2 O 4 for hydrogen production were studied by applying different techniques for physicochemical characterization such as: N 2 O chemisorption, TPR, XPS and XANES. The test reaction was ethanol steam reforming carried out at a temperature interval of 250C-750C and a ratio H 2 O/C 2 H 5 OH of 3/1. It was shown that the different behavior of catalysts in the C-C breaking depends mainly

more »

... on the oxidation state of the metal components. It was detected that the acetaldehyde production is large when the oxidation degree of the metal components is at its maximum, i.e. the ethanol oxidative dehydrogenation takes place. Increasing the degree of metallic area in Ni and CoNi catalysts led to easily C-C bond cleavage, producing CO, CO 2 and H 2 .