This work studied hydrogen production from aqueous phase of bio-oil by steam reforming, autothermal reforming, and water gas shift reactions. Production of hydrogen via catalytic steam reforming by using nano gamma alumina and promoted Cu and Sn metals over nickel based catalyst were investigated. Bio-oil was produced by pyrolysis of corn cob, it was separated into two phases: aqueous phase and organic phase. The aqueous phase and steam were fed into a semi-continuous reactor at a flow rate of air 200 cm³/min, the steam to carbon mole ratio (S/C) of 10:1 and the reactor was operated at 750°C. Prior to using bio-oil, ethanol was used as a model compound. The hydrogen yields are 81%, 55.1%, 55.6% and 70%, using non catalyst, g-Al₂O₃, Cu-Ni/g-Al₂O₃ and Cu-Ni-Sn/g-Al₂O₃, respectively. The results demonstrated that at the following conditions the highest hydrogen gas produced was from Cu-Ni-Sn/g-Al₂O₃ catalyst. Then the bio-oil aqueous phase was used to produce hydrogen gas via Cu-Ni-Sn/g-Al₂O₃ catalyst. The operating temperature was varied from 185-850°C and the steam to carbon mole ratio (S/C) was varied from 7.5:1-10.5:1. From the results, the optimum conditions of this work were, the flow rate of air of 200 cm³/min, the steam to carbon mole ratio (S/C) of 10:1 and temperature of 230°C, the highest hydrogen gas yield was 88.6%

Keywords: biohydrogen, steam reforming, autothermal reforming, water gas shift, Cu-Ni-Sn/g-Al₂O₃