H2 Production by Methanol Steam Reforming over Copper Impregnated Anodized Aluminum Oxide (AAO)

Abstract

Hydrogen production by methanol steam reforming (MSR) is easy and simple as compared to other reforming methods using fossil fuels such as methane steam reforming. The catalysts for MSR are well developed and available commercially. When constructing a small or micro reformer, the catalyst often needs to be coated on the wall of the metal substrate. In this case, the bonding between the metal surface and the catalyst layer must be strong enough to avoid peeling of the layer. Simple catalyst slurry coating on the metal surface has not been successful due to the inherent weak bonding between the metal and the metal oxide layer. In this study, to develop a robust catalyst layer, we first formed a strongly bonded porous aluminum oxide layer on an aluminum metal surface and then impregnated it with an active metal, Cu. Copper metal is incorporated into the pores of alumina by impregnation using different concentrations of copper nitrate solution (Cu-AAO). The surface morphology of the catalysts has been monitored by FE-SEM at various stages of synthesis and the amount of Cu metal incorporated has been analyzed by SEM-EDX. This paper discusses the development of Cu-AAO catalyst for methanol steam reforming.

Keywords: Anodized Aluminum Oxide, Methanol Reforming, H₂ Production