The role of CeO(2)-ZrO(2) as support in the ZnO-ZnCr(2)O(4) catalysts for autothermal reforming of methanol

Autothermal reforming of methanol for hydrogen production was investigated over ZnO-ZnCr(2)O(4) supported on a series of metal oxides (Al(2)O(3), CeO(2), ZrO(2) and CeO(2)-ZrO(2))CeO(2)-ZrO(2) mixed oxides with Ce /Zr molar ratio of 4/1 was found to be the optimal support which showed significant effect on the catalytic activity and selectivity. The ZnO-ZnCr(2)O(4)/CeO(2)-ZrO(2) and ZnO-ZnCr(2)O(4) catalysts were characterized by XRD, TEM, H(2)-TPR and XPS. The results show that CeO(2)-ZrO(2) mixed oxides have significant effect on the catalytic performance and the supported catalyst shows more uniform temperature distribution in the catalyst bed which was mainly due to its reasonable redox properties. (C) 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V