Cu-Zn-Al spinel catalyst for hydrogen production from methanol steam reforming

The Cu-Zn-Al ternary spinel catalysts were synthesized by the wet ball milling method using copper nitrate, zinc nitrate, pseudoboehmite and citric acid as the raw materials. TG-DTA, XRD, N₂ physical adsorption, H₂-TPR, XPS and other characterization methods were used to study the effects of different Cu/Zn/Al molar ratios on the crystal phase composition, specific surface area, reduction performance and surface properties of the catalysts, and the catalytic performances of the catalysts were investigated by methanol steam reforming (MSR) for hydrogen production. The results indicate that comparing with the binary Cu-Al spinel, Cu-Zn-Al ternary spinel catalysts have high crystallinity, large surface area and are difficult to be reduced, which show improved catalytic performance and totally different sustained release behavior. The Cu-Zn-Al spinel catalyst with Cu∶Zn∶Al = 0.8∶0.2∶2.5 (molar ratio) exhibited the highest stable catalytic activity in MSR under a reaction temperature of 265 ℃, water/methanol ratio of 2 and mass space velocity of 2.25 h⁻¹. The findings of this work might be served as basic data for further research of such ternary spinel catalysts.