Hydrogen production from propane steam reforming over Ir/Ce0.75Zr0.25O2 catalyst

Abstract

Steam reforming of propane over a novel Ir/Ce0.75Zr0.25O2 catalyst was investigated. Various techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), temperature-programmed reduction (TPR), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and oxygen storage capacity (OSC) etc were used to characterize the as-prepared catalysts in order to elucidate the catalyst structure-performance relationship. The doping of ZrO2 into the CeO2 lattice greatly improved the redox property of the CeO2 by creating more surface oxygen vacancies. Stability test revealed that the Ir/Ce0.75Zr0.25O2 sample exhibited rather stable catalytic behavior for 65h time-on-stream without obvious deactivation, which was assigned to the efficient prevention of the sintering of the highly dispersed Ir particles through the strong interaction between Ir and CeO2 support and to the significant resistance to coke deposition due to the excellent OSC of Ce0.75Zr0.25O2 support.