Preparation of a Durable CuO/ZnO/CeO2/ZrO2 Catalyst on an SiC Support by an Inverse Microemulsion/Precipitation Method for Methanol Steam Reforming

Abstract Durable CuO/ZnO/CeO 2 /ZrO 2 catalyst on SiC support for methanol steam reforming (MSR) was prepared by the combination of inverse microemulsion method and precipitation method which is termed as inverse microemulsion/precipitation method. The presence of Ce−O−Zr solid solution facilitated the production of oxygen vacancies and Ce 3+ species in the prepared CuO/ZnO/CeO 2 /ZrO 2 catalyst. Owing to the unique tiny reaction pool and the addition of precipitant for inverse microemulsion/precipitation method, the particle size of the prepared catalyst was principally between 2 and 6 nm, with an average size of 3.66 nm. Besides, the small particle size and the highly dispersed of Cu species boosted the reduction performance of the catalyst, enabling the reduction temperature to be only 201 °C. The methanol conversion of the reduced catalyst was still reached 98.8 % after 150 h, considerably higher than that of solution combustion method (70 %), without carbon deposition and pronounced sintering after MSR reaction.