Investigation of synthesized Fe2O3 and CuO–Fe2O3 for pure hydrogen production by chemical-loop reforming of methanol in a micro-channel reactor

Abstract

Production of pure hydrogen from methanol was investigated by the chemical looping method in the presence of 0.1CuO–Fe2O3 and Fe2O3 at 350 °C in a micro-channel reactor. The x-ray diffraction and atomic absorption spectroscopy analysis confirmed the formation phases and the values of Fe2O3 and CuO.Considering the formation of coke due to methanol conversion reactions and as a result, the production of CO together with H2, the time of the reduction step (2 hours-11 min) has been controlled to minimize coke deposition. The results show that coke deposition was prevented by optimizing the reduction time to 11 min for both samples and the pure H2 flow was generated for fuel cell applications, which was 231.1% higher for the 0.1CuO–Fe2O3. Although the results show that improving the Cu content and the reduction temperature increases the reduction degree of the catalyst and yield of H2, but coke deposition cannot be prevented.