Fuel-cell grade hydrogen production by methanol steam reforming over promoted Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalysts

The Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 nanocatalysts, prepared by co-precipitation method, have been modified by adding small amount of Zr, Ba, Ce oxides. The structure and morphology of catalysts were studied by BET,SEM and XRD technics. Performance of the prepared catalysts for hydrogen production by steam reforming of methanol was investigated by using a stainless steel fixed-bed reactor at 1 atm and 523 K. The oxide additives were found to influence the hydrogen yield, methanol conversion and Cu crystallite size. The results showed that the Ce promoted catalysts have high performance for hydrogen production.