title: Direct methanol steam reforming to hydrogen over CuZnGaOx catalysts without CO post-treatment: mechanistic considerations.
abstract: Utilization of hydrogen gas (and carbon dioxide) from methanol steam reforming reaction directly without CO post-treatment to supply proton exchange membrane fuel cells for mobile applications is an attractive option. CuZnGaOx based mixed oxides prepared by co-precipitation are found to be active as catalysts for the reforming reaction. It is also found that the use of lower temperature and a faster substrate flow rate with a shorter contact time with the catalyst bed can significantly reduce the CO level in the product gas stream. At 150 °C this class of oxides gives a decent methanol conversion but can also totally suppress the CO production at a short contact time, which is in a sharp contrast with conventional CuZnOx based catalysts that give a significant degree of CO formation. Characterization using Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform (DRIFT) analysis presented in this work clearly suggests the importance of the interface between copper metal-defective oxides for the catalysis. Mechanistic aspects of this reaction are therefore discussed in this paper.
authors.affiliation: Wolfson Catalysis Centre, Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Weiyi
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: West
authors.forename: Kai-Man
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Shik Chi Edman
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Tsang