Steam Reforming of Methanol Over Cu/CeO2 Catalysts Studied in Comparison with Cu/ZnO and Cu/Zn(Al)O Catalysts

A series of Ce_1-xCu_xO_2- mixed oxides were synthesized using a co-precipitation method and tested as catalysts for the steam reforming of methanol. XRD patterns of the Ce_1-xCu_xO_2- mixed oxides indicated that Cu²⁺ ions were dissolved in CeO₂ lattices to form a solid solution by calcination at 773K when x < 0.2. A TPR (temperature-programmed reduction) investigation showed that the CeO₂ promotes the reduction of the Cu²⁺ species. Two reduction peaks were observed in the TPR profiles, which suggested that there were two different Cu²⁺ species in the Ce_1-xCu_xO_2- mixed oxides. The TPR peak at low temperature is attributed to the bulk Cu²⁺ species which dissolved into the CeO₂ lattices, and the peak at high temperature is due to the CuO species dispersed on the surface of CeO₂. The Ce_1-xCu_xO_2- mixed oxides were reduced to form Cu/CeO₂ catalysts for steam reforming of methanol, and were compared with Cu/ZnO, Cu/Zn(Al)O and Cu/AL₂O₃ catalysts. All the Cu-containing catalysts tested in this study showed high selectivities to CO₂ (over 97%) and H₂. A 3.8wt% Cu/CeO₂ catalyst showed a conversion of 53.9% for the steam reforming of methanol at 513K (W/F = 4.9 g h mol^-1), which was higher than that over Cu/ZnO (37.9%), Cu/Zn(Al)O (32.3%) and Cu/AL₂O₃ (11.2%) with the same Cu loading under the same reaction conditions. It is likely that the high activity of the Cu/CeO₂ catalysts may be due to the highly dispersed Cu metal particles and the strong metalsupport interaction between the Cu metal and CeO₂ support. Slow deactivations were observed over the 3.8wt% Cu/CeO₂ catalyst at 493 and 513K. The activity of the deactivated catalysts can be regenerated by calcination in air at 773K followed by reduction in H₂ at 673K, which indicated that a carbonaceous deposit on the catalyst surface caused the catalyst deactivation. Using the TPO (temperature-programmed oxidation) method, the amounts of coke on the 3.8wt% Cu/CeO₂ catalyst were 0.8wt% at 493K and 1.7wt% at 513K after 24h on stream.