The role of CO adsorption and CuO formation on the catalyst deactivation during the long-term performance evaluation of methanol steam reforming process for hydrogen production: Comparison of sono-coprecipitation and spray pyrolysis method

Abstract

In this study, microreactors were coated with catalysts synthesized by two different methods and hydrogen was produced by methanol steam reforming. The structure of the catalysts was characterized by XRD, SEM and EDS analyses in the synthesis, activation and after long-term evaluation stages. The effect of CO adsorption and the structural changes of catalysts on the product stream and conversion were investigated and compared in detail. As a result, it was observed that the catalyst prepared by sono-coprecipitation (SCC) was more active although lost its performance much faster. Considering the performance graphs, SEM/EDS analyses and XRD results, it was revealed that the main reason for the performance decrease of the SPC-reactor (spray pyrolysis coating) was the increase of CO adsorption on the surface. Also, the formation of CuO structures and CO adsorption in the SCC-reactor were responsible for the faster performance decrease.