Effects of precipitation aging time on the performance of CuO/ZnO/CeO₂-ZrO₂ for methanol steam reforming

CuO/ZnO/CeO₂-ZrO₂ catalysts for methanol steam reforming (MSR) were prepared by a co-precipitation procedure, and the effects of precipitation aging time on the catalytic performance were investigated. It was found that the prolonged precipitation aging time increased the surface Cu atoms and improved the reducibility of catalyst, but decreased the oxygen storage capacity. A nearly linear increase between the surface Cu atoms and H₂ production rate was obtained in prepared CuO/ZnO/CeO₂-ZrO₂ catalysts with prolonged precipitation aging time. However, CO concentration increased with the decrease of the oxygen storage capacity. Considering the H₂ production rate and CO level, the optimal precipitation aging time was 2 h. CuO/ZnO/CeO₂-ZrO₂ prepared using this aging time exhibited the best activity with suppressed CO formation.