Recent Progress of Catalysts for Reforming of Biomass Tar/Tar Models at Low Temperatures – A Short Review

Abstract Catalytic tar reforming is considered as a promising technology to convert tar into useful syngas such as H 2 and CO as well as chemicals such as benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX). Up until now, few review works have reported the recent progress focusing on the catalyst design for low‐temperature reforming of biomass tar. Therefore, in this work, we focused on the design and preparation of tar cracking and reforming catalysts with high performances to achieve an efficient conversion of tar at temperatures lower than 700 °C. Char supported Ni or Co catalysts with high specific surface area, small metallic particle size and high dispersion are conductive to produce more amount of syngas. Moreover, HZSM‐5 and metal‐promoted zeolites are more suitable for high conversion of tar and selectivity of BTX due to the excellent mesopore structure, thermal stability and medium acidity. Based on those literatures, the adjustment of the catalyst‘s structure, the deactivation mechanism, and the reforming mechanism were also summarized and discussed. In addition, some futural insights were proposed in order to promote the catalyst‘s performance in terms of activity and stability, as well as reveal the clear tar reforming mechanism.