Steam Reforming of Methanol to H2 over a Novel Catalyst

A novel catalyst was designed and studied for the methanol steam reforming (MSR) process. Copper and zinc loaded mesoporous carbon (CMK-3) catalysts were synthesized via wet impregnation method. The aim was to produce high yield hydrogen containing minimum amount of CO in order to develop the on-board hydrogen production methods for fuel cell systems. The catalysts were calcined at two different temperatures (300oC and 450oC) under air flow in order to investigate the effect of the catalyst calcination temperature on its catalytic performance in MSR. A variety of techniques including N2 adsorption/desorption, XRD, SEM, and EDX were employed to characterize the physical and chemical properties of the catalysts. The BET surface area of the catalyst support decreased from 1057m2/g to 870m2/g for CuZn/CMK-3/300 and to 855m2/g for CuZn/CMK- 3/450. XRD patterns and SEM images of the catalysts revealed the larger metal particles formation in CuZn/CMK-3/450. The EDX results of both catalysts showed that the intended amounts of metals were successfully impregnated on CMK-3. The methanol steam reforming process was carried out in a fixed bed reactor at atmospheric pressure and 250oC. The CuZn/CMK-3/300 showed an average hydrogen yield of 90% and an average methanol conversion of 90.5%. The copper and zinc loaded CMK-3 catalysts produced CO free hydrogen which makes them suitable choices for fuel cell systems. Briefly, it can be concluded that the higher calcination temperature caused sintering of the metal particles and hence less activity in MSR.

کلیدواژه ها:

Catalysis ، Supported catalyst ، Hydrogen production ، Mesoporous carbon ، Sustainable energy ، Methanol steam reforming.