The Effects of PdZn Crystallite Size on Methanol Steam Reforming

Exceptional activity and selectivity of Pd/ZnO catalysts for methanol steam reforming have been attributed to the formation of PdZn alloy. In this paper, we evaluated the crystallite size effects of PdZn alloy on methanol steam reforming. An organic preparation method was used to avoid the complexity from the alteration of ZnO morphology typically associated with the conventional aqueous preparation method. Both Pd loading and reduction temperature (>350 °C) were used to vary the crystallite size of PdZn alloy. Experimental activity studies and transmission electron microscope (TEM) characterizations indicated that formation of large sized PdZn crystallites exhibit high reactivity and low CO selectivity during methanol steam reforming.