Investigation of well-defined intermetallic and perovskite based catalysts for steam reforming of methanol and of ethanol to selectively produce hydrogen for fuel cell applications

• Research unit: COST
• Project number: C11.0034

Key words (English)

Renewable resources; Ethanol; Hydrogen fuel; Fuel cell; Heterogeneous catalysts; Operando spectroscopy; Structure-activity relationships

Research programs (English)

COST-Action CM0904 - Network for intermetallic compounds as catalysts for steam reforming of methanol (IMC-SRM)

Short description (English)

See abstract

Further information (English)

Full name of research-institution/enterprise: Eidg. Materialprüfungs- und Forschungsanstalt EMPA

Partners and International Organizations (English)

AT, BE, CH, DE, DK, EL, ES, FI, FR, PL, RO, SI, UK

Abstract (English)

To address future energy and environmental concerns, Switzerland and EU are increasingly focussing on the use of renewable resources and on the zero emission concept. Fuel cells (FCs) have huge potential to deal with these issues as they produce energy from hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2) and emit only H2O. However, the key for realization of FCs for vehicles is the H2 fuel from renewable resources such as methanol and ethanol which have high energy density. The potential of catalytic steam reforming of these alcohols to produce on-site pure H2 to feed FCs on-board has an enormous impact in socio, economic and environmental spheres. However, an efficient catalyst that selectively produces H2 and CO2 (i.e., free from CO) with acceptable turnover rates and stability is yet to be developed. The main challenges associated with these catalysts are formation of high amounts of CO and coke which deactivate the Pt electrode and the reforming catalysts, respectively. Therefore, studies have been dedicated to discover efficient catalysts comprising of well-defined perovskite-type oxides and/or intermetallic compound for steam reforming of methanol (SRM). During the first year of the project, well defined LaCoO3±? perovskite-type oxides with and without Co substitution by Pd and Zn are studied. The SRM performance, especially CO2 selectivity, of LaCoO3±? is improved significantly from 0 to 90% at around 225°C by substitution of Co with Pd and Zn. However, the selectivity is still lower than the reference Pd/ZnO catalyst and objective of the project (i.e., 100%). Therefore, the catalyst composition is changed during the second year of the project from LaCoO3±? to La2CuO4±?. By substitution of La with Sr (La1.96Sr0.04CuO4±?) and Cu with Ag (La1.98Sr0.02Cu0.98Ag0.02O4±?), the CO2 selectivity of 99. 5 and 99.7%, respectively, is achieved at 250°C. The selectivity is higher than that obtained (92%) on the un-substituted La2CuO4±?. The CO2 selectivity of 100% is achieved at 235 °C with 22% CH3OH conversion on La1.98Sr0.02Cu0.98Ag0.02O4±?, while La1.96Sr0.04CuO4±? exhibits 99.65% under similar conditions. The stability of the materials will be studied.

References in databases (English)

Swiss Database: COST-DB of the State Secretariat for Education and Research Hallwylstrasse 4 CH-3003 Berne, Switzerland Tel. [phone] Swiss Project-Number: C11.0034