A highly efficient Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst via gel-coprecipitation of oxalate precursors for low-temperature steam reforming of methanol

The impact of preparation methods on the structure and catalytic behavior of Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalysts for H2 production from steam reforming of methanol (SRM) has been reported. The results show that the nanostructured Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst obtained by a novel gel-coprecipitation of oxalate precursors has a high specific surface area and high component dispersion, exhibiting much higher activity in the SRM reaction as compared to the catalysts prepared by conventional coprecipitation techniques. It is suggested that the superior catalytic performance of the oxalate gel-coprecipitation-derived Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst could be attributed to the generation of “catalytically active” copper material with a much higher metallic copper specific surface as well as a stronger Cu–Zn interaction due to an easier incorporation of zinc species into CuC2O4 · x H2O precursors as a consequence of isomorphous substitution between copper and zinc in the oxalate gel-precursors.