| Summary: | In the present piece of research, hydrogen production via the photo-reforming of glycerol (a byproduct from biodiesel generation) is studied. Catalysts consisted of titania modified by Ni (0.5% by weight) obtained through deposition−precipitation or impregnation synthetic methods (labelled as Ni-0.5-DP and Ni-0.5-IMP, respectively). Reactions were performed both under UV and solar irradiation. Activity significantly improved in the presence of Ni, especially under solar irradiation. Moreover, pre-reduced solids exhibited higher catalytic activities than untreated solids, despite the “in-situ” reduction of nickel species and the elimination of surface chlorides under reaction conditions (as evidenced by XPS). It is possible that the catalyst pretreatment at 400 °C under hydrogen resulted in some strong metal−support interactions. In summary, the highest hydrogen production value (ca. 2600 micromole H<sub>2</sub>·g<sup>−1</sup>) was achieved with pre-reduced Ni-0.5-DP solid using UV light for an irradiation time of 6 h. This value represents a 15.7-fold increase as compared to Evonik P25.
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