Noble metal catalysts highly-dispersed on Sm-doped ceria for the application to internal reforming solid oxide fuel cells operated at medium temperature

The synthesis of MTBE was studied in the gas phase at elevated temperatures (up to 175°C) and low pressures (150 kPa) where the MTBE formation rate is limited by thermodynamic equilibrium, using various solid acid catalysts (Amberlyst-15 resin, silica-alumina, HY and H-ZSM-5 zeolites). All the zeolites studied were found to exhibit better selectivities to MTBE than the commercially used Amberlyst-15 resin catalyst. The formation of byproducts increased with increasing temperature and appeared to have a strong enhancing effect on catalyst deactivation. H-ZSM-5 seems to be more suitable for high temperature formation of MTBE because of its excellent selectivity towards MTBE and low deactivation behavior.