Improved hydrogen production performance from methanol steam reforming by Ce‐doped CuO–Y 2 O 3 catalysts

Abstract Compared with the relatively simple monometallic and bimetallic oxide catalytic systems, polymetallic catalysts have attracted much attention in recent years. CuO–(Y 2 O 3 ) (1− x )/2 (CeO 2 ) x ( x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1) polymetallic catalyst for hydrogen production by methanol steam reforming(MSR) was prepared by sol–gel method and characterized by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Specific surface area and pore size analyser(BET) techniques. XRD results show that the diffraction peaks of CuO–(Y 2 O 3 ) 0.4 (CeO 2 ) 0.2 are sharp and intense, indicating that it is highly crystalline. SEM results show that the pore structure of catalyst becomes loose with the increase of Ce doping amount, and the catalyst particles become more uniform in size and more loose in shape. The BET results show that compared with other catalysts, CuO–(Y 2 O 3 ) 0.4 (CeO 2 ) 0.2 catalyst has larger specific surface area, which improves the catalytic performance. XPS results showed that CuO–(Y 2 O 3 ) 0.4 (CeO 2 ) 0.2 still had catalytic activity after reduction treatment. The results of MSR showed that the doping amount of cerium and the reaction conditions affected the catalytic performance of the catalyst. Ce doping promoted the synergistic effect of Cu and Y, and the hydrogen production of CuO–(Y 2 O 3 ) 0.4 (CeO 2 ) 0.2 was the highest (about 6.74 × 10 −3 mol/min/g cat ). Ce doping leads to the change of CO/CO 2 selectivity in gas products. The CO selectivity of CuO–(Y 2 O 3 ) 0.4 (CeO 2 ) 0.2 catalyst is only 2% under the catalytic conditions of 400°C, W/M 4:1, and LHSV 20 h −1 , which shows good catalytic activity.