Oxidative Steam Reforming of Methanol Over Cu-Zn-Ce-Al Catalysts

Abstract

Effect of Ce loading on the performance of Cu-Zn-Al catalysts was studied in oxidative steam reforming of methanol for the production of hydrogen. Ceria enhanced the catalytic activity, hydrogen selectivity and also lower the CO formation, however the optimum Ce doping was essential. Catalyst Cu-Zn- Ce-Al with composition Cu/Zn/Ce/Al:30/20/10/40 prepared by co-precipitation method was the most active catalyst giving methanol conversion up to 100% and CO concentration up to 282 ppm. The XRD and TPR patterns revealed that the addition of ceria improved the dispersion and reduction of copper, which resulted in the better catalytic performance. Optimum reaction temperature, contact-time and oxygen to methanol molar ratio were investigated for Cu-Zn-Ce-Al catalysts. The time-on-stream (TOS) stability test of catalysts showed the Cu-Zn-Ce-Al, which gave consistent performance for a long time, as quite stable catalysts compared to Cu-Zn-Al catalysts.