Influence of cerium sources on CuO/CeO₂ catalysts for hydrogen production from steam reforming of methanol

CeO₂ support was synthesized by precipitation method and used to prepare CuO/CeO₂ catalyst using impregnation method. The effects of cerium sources (Ce(NO₃)₃·6H₂O, CeCl₃·6H₂O, Ce(NH₄)₂(NO₃)₆ and Ce(SO₄)₂·4H₂O) on the catalytic performance of CuO/CeO₂ catalyst were investigated. XRD, SEM, N₂O titration, BET and H₂-TPR were used to study the structure and properties of the catalysts. The CuO/CeO₂ catalysts with different cerium sources have obvious differences in Cu specific surface area, reduction performance and interaction between active component and support. Moreover, CuO/CeO₂ catalyst prepared with Ce(NO₃)₃·6H₂O has large Cu specific surface area, low reduction temperature and strong interaction between CeO₂ support and CuO and shows better catalytic activity in methanol steam reforming. The methanol conversion is 100% at reaction temperature of 553 K, water/methanol ratio in feed of 1.2 and methanol water gas hourly space velocity of 1760 h^-1. Besides, the CO molar content in reformed gas is 0.84%.