Effect of the Zr/Al Molar Ratio on the Performance of Cu/ZrO<sub>2</sub>–Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> Catalysts for Methanol Steam Reforming
Mouxiao Song, Wenqing Zeng, Li Li, Xueshuang Wu, Guiying Li, Changwei Hu
Abstract
Methanol steam reforming was widely used to produce hydrogen for fuel cells. Copper-based catalysts are popular because of its low price and high activity, whereas high selectivity to H 2 is highly expected. Herein, copper-based catalysts with different Zr/Al molar ratios were prepared by the impregnation method. It was found that the 5 wt % Cu/ZrO 2 –8Al 2 O 3 catalyst exhibited high activity with methanol conversion of 84.5%, hydrogen production rate of 98.7 μmol/g cat ·s, and the lowest carbon monoxide selectivity of 1.5% because it had the smallest copper particle size, high medium-strong basic site, and high surface (Cu 1+ + Cu 0 ) proportion. The results of in situ FT-IR indicated that formate species might be important intermediates for H 2 production.