One-step growth of CuO/ZnO/CeO2/ZrO2 nanoflowers catalyst by hydrothermal method on Al2O3 support for methanol steam reforming in a microreactor

Abstract

CuO/ZnO/CeO2/ZrO2 nanoflowers catalyst was grown on an Al2O3 foam ceramic by a one-step hydrothermal process, while a naked Al2O3 foam ceramic and an Al2O3 foam ceramic grown with ZnO nanorods that directly impregnated into the catalyst precursor solution were also fabricated simultaneously. The morphology, composition, redox property and specific surface area of catalysts on the three ceramics were investigated in detail. The catalyst-loaded ceramics were used as catalyst supports in a microreactor to study the catalytic performance for methanol steam reforming. Results showed that the microreactor with Al2O3 support grown with nanoflowers catalyst achieved 99.8% methanol conversion rate, 0.16 mol/h H2 flow rate at 310 °C, and an inlet methanol flow rate of 0.048 mol/h. Moreover, the microreactor exhibited 92% methanol conversion rate after 30 h continuous reaction.