Kinetics of hydrogen production of methanol reformation using Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst

The catalytic performance of methanol reformation using Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 was investigated at low temperature. The operation conditions, such as composition of Cu, Zn, and Al, temperature, molar ratio of H2O/CH3OH, weight hourly space velocity, catalyst weight, and kind and flow rate of carrier gas (helium and air), were evaluated to obtain the optimum reaction condition. The catalysts were prepared by oxalic coprecipitation, coprecipitation, and polyol method. The weight composition of Cu, Zn, and Al prepared by oxalic coprecipitation was 15:15:5 by high-throughput screening of combinatorial chemistry method, which was the best Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst. The prepared catalysts showed high activity and selectivity towards hydrogen formation. The methanol conversion, production rate, and volumetric percentage of hydrogen using this best catalyst were larger than 95%, 0.65 mol/h x g and 59%, respectively, and the CO volumetric percentage was smaller than 0.22% when the reaction temperature was 240 degrees C. The size and dispersity of copper, and the activity and turnover frequency of the catalyst were calculated as well.