Preparation and activity of Cu/ZnO-CNTs nano-catalyst on steam reforming of methanol

• Published in: Applied catalysis. A, General General, 2007-02, Vol.317 (2), p.226-233
• Main Authors: Yang, Hung-Ming, Liao, Ping-Heng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbon nano-tubes; Catalysis; Chemical reduction method; Chemistry; Exact sciences and technology; General and physical chemistry; Methanol steam reforming; Nano-catalyst; Theory of reactions, general kinetics. Catalysis. Nomenclature, chemical documentation, computer chemistry
• ISSN: 0926-860X; 1873-3875
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apcata.2006.10.018

A novel Cu/ZnO-CNTs (carbon nano-tubes) nano-catalyst was prepared by chemical reduction and wet impregnation method, and was applied to catalyze the steam reforming reaction of methanol. CH 3OH + H 2O ⇌ CO 2 + 3H 2 XRD analysis of 23 wt% Cu/ZnO-CNTs catalysts; (▾) CNT, (▿) CuO, (♦) ZnO, (●) Cu. ▪ A novel Cu/ZnO-CNTs (carbon nano-tubes) nano-catalyst was prepared by a chemical reduction and wet impregnation method, and was applied to catalyze the steam reforming reaction of methanol. If one uses CNT as the support, the CNTs should be pre-treated by nitric acid and sulfuric acid at 60 °C for 24 h to create defects on its surface; the hydrophilicity of CNTs was improved by adding a suitable amount of ethanol. The catalysts were characterized by TEM, XRD, FTIR and TGA. A good dispersion of Cu nano-particles on the surface of CNTs with particle size about 10 nm is identified by TEM analysis. Using 23 wt% Cu 80ZnO 20-CNTs as the catalyst, we obtained the hydrogen yield for steam reforming of methanol of 83% at 280 °C and near 100% at temperatures higher than 320 °C with 1.5 of molar ratio of water to methanol. The higher hydrogen production (larger than 400mmol/(s kg cat)), higher selectivity of CO 2 and lower CO concentration were also observed.