Influence of Oxidative Properties of CexZr1−xO2 Catalyst on Partial Oxidation of Dimethyl Ether

Abstract

Partial oxidation of dimethyl ether (DME) to hydrogen is an efficient route for hydrogen production for application in SOFC. However, quite a large amount of CO2 as a byproduct has been an important obstacle. In this work, cerium–zirconium solid solution (CexZr1−xO2) was applied to determine how the oxidative properties of the catalyst affect the production of CO2 in the partial oxidation of DME. The results show that the catalyst with more adsorbed oxygen (Oads) rather than the lattice oxygen has stronger oxidizability and gives higher DME conversion as well as higher CO2 yield, due to the overoxidation of CO.