Methanol decomposition over supported palladium and platinum

Methanol decomposition over supported Pt and Pd catalysts was investigated in the temperature range from 453 to 573 K with the partial pressure of methanol up to 0.8 atm. The specific activity of Pd was higher than that of Pt, and alumina-supported Pd was more active than silica-supported Pd, although alumina-supported catalysts produced dimethyl ether as a by-product. A silica-supported Pd catalyst prepared from a tetraamine salt solution with a proper pH exhibited higher activity than the other silica-supported Pd catalysts. Dependence of the decomposition rate on the partial pressure of methanol was similar regardless of the metal, the support or the preparation method. The apparent reaction orders were near 0.3 at low pressures below about 0.4 atm and became near zero or slightly negative at higher pressures. The apparent activation energies were about the same for most of the catalysts and were in the range from 66 to 77 kJ/g-mol.