Hydrogen production by steam reforming of methanol by Cu-Zn/CeAlO perovskite

• Published in: New journal of chemistry Vol. 47; no. 10; pp. 4860 - 4870
• Main Authors: Ranjekar, Apoorva M, Yadav, Ganapati D
• Format: Journal Article
• Published: 06.03.2023
• ISSN: 1144-0546; 1369-9261
• DOI: 10.1039/d2nj05491d

In steam reforming of methanol (SRM), the efficacy of CeAlO 3 perovskite as a support for a bimetal catalyst was investigated. CeAlO 3 perovskite was synthesized employing a mesoporous silica (MCF) hard template and an incipient wetness impregnation approach to load copper and zinc over the surface of the porous CeAlO 3 perovskite. Different loadings of Cu-Zn on CeAlO 3 were used and studied for their activity and selectivity. Initial studies were done with 5%Cu-5%Zn/CeAlO 3 and thereafter a superior catalyst 10%Cu-10%Zn/CeAlO 3 was synthesised and employed for SRM. 10%Cu-10%Zn/CeAlO 3 catalyst showed very high activity, and selectivity, with minimal carbon deposition. It led to a high conversion of methanol (98.9%) to produce 97.9 mol% hydrogen at a significantly lower temperature of 593 K, using steam to carbon (S/C) of 6, and GHSV of 2700 mL g −1 h −1 , in comparison with the published literature. In addition, contaminants such as CO linked to oxygen vacancy defects and acid sites on the CeAlO 3 surface were not discovered in the Cu-Zn/CeAlO 3 catalyst. The catalyst was characterised using XRD, FESEM-EDS, HR-TEM, H 2 -TPR, CO 2 and NH 3 TPD, BET, and XPS. The activity and selectivity of the Cu-Zn/CeAlO 3 catalyst in SRM were studied and it appears to have industrial applications. In steam reforming of methanol (SRM), the efficacy of CeAlO 3 perovskite as a support for a bimetal catalyst was investigated.