Review on Copper and Palladium Based Catalysts for Methanol Steam Reforming to Produce Hydrogen

Ben Xu,Xinhai Xu,Kaipeng Shuai

doi:10.3390/catal7060183

Abstract

Methanol steam reforming is a promising technology for producing hydrogen for onboard fuel cell applications. The methanol conversion rate and the contents of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in the reformate, significantly depend on the reforming catalyst. Copper-based catalysts and palladium-based catalysts can effectively convert methanol into hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Copper and palladium-based catalysts with different formulations and compositions have been thoroughly investigated in the literature. This work summarized the development of the two groups of catalysts for methanol steam reforming. Interactions between the activity components and the supports as well as the effects of different promoters were discussed. Compositional and morphological characteristics, along with the methanol steam reforming performances of different Cu/ZnO and Pd/ZnO catalysts promoted by Al2O3, CeO2, ZrO2 or other metal oxides, were reviewed and compared. Moreover, the reaction mechanism of methanol steam reforming over the copper based and palladium based catalysts were discussed.

Highlights

Hydrogen is a promising alternative fuel because of its high energy density and low greenhouse gas emission rate [1]
Further investigation concludes that the catalytic performance of Pd/ZnO for methanol steam reforming can be greatly improved by reducing the catalyst prior to the reaction
The performance of methanol steam reforming is significantly dependent on the reforming catalyst

Summary

Introduction

Hydrogen is a promising alternative fuel because of its high energy density and low greenhouse gas emission rate [1]. Three main onboard fuel processing mechanisms to produce hydrogen are steam reforming, partial oxidation and auto thermal reforming [8]. For different catalyst formulations, the influence of interactions between the catalyst components and the support as well as the addition of promoters on the structural, morphological and redox properties of the active phase needs to be examined. The present work summarized the development of copper-based catalysts and palladium-based catalysts for methanol steam reforming. Methanol steam reforming performances based on different catalysts and the reaction mechanism were presented. A recent review summarized the progress of Ni-based and Co-based catalysts for methanol steam reforming [9] They are not discussed in the present study

Copper-Based Catalysts

Although

Illustration

40 Znincreased

Odispersion

O3 catalysts the molarofratio of Cu

Performances of Copper-Based Catalysts

Palladium Based Catalysts

Performances of Palladium

Findings

Reaction Mechanism of Methanol Steam Reforming

Conclusions