Research on CuO/CeO₂-ZrO₂/SiC monolithic catalysts for hydrogen production from steam reforming of methanol

CuO/CeO₂-ZrO₂/SiC monolithic catalysts were prepared by the sol-gel and incipient-wetness impregnation methods, and then used in methanol steam reforming reaction for H₂ production. The results indicated that CuO/CeO₂-ZrO₂/SiC monolithic catalysts showed better activity, higher hydrogen production rate and less CO volume fraction than the CuO/CeO₂-ZrO₂ bead catalysts. Then the effects of CuO content and coating amount on methanol steam reforming were explored. When the CeO₂-ZrO₂ mass content was 15%±1% and CuO was 5%±1%, the obtained catalyst showed the best catalytic activity. At a reaction temperature of 340 ℃, water and methanol molar ratio of 1.2, methanol and water gas hourly space velocity of 4840 h^-1, methanol conversion reached 86.0%, hydrogen production rate was 1490.0 L/(m³·s), and CO content in reformed gas was 1.55%. The effects of gas hourly space velocity, water and methanol molar ratio and temperature on methanol steam reforming reaction activity were studied by the single factor experiments. The results showed that, as the gas hourly space velocity increased, methanol conversion decreased, hydrogen production rate increased, and the volume fraction of CO in the reformed gas decreased. As the molar ratio of water to methanol increased, both the methanol conversion and the hydrogen production rate increased first and then declined, and the volume fraction of CO in the reformed gas decreased. With the increase of reaction temperature, methanol conversion rate, hydrogen production rate and the content of CO in the reformed gas increased.