Urea–nitrate combustion synthesis of ZrO2 and CeO2 doped CuO/Al2O3 nanocatalyst used in steam reforming of biomethanol for hydrogen production

The CuO/ZrO2/Al2O3 and CuO/CeO2/Al2O3 nanocatalysts for production of hydrogen via methanol steam reforming were prepared by the solution combustion method using urea as fuel. The effect of ceria and zirconia on physicochemical properties of nanocatalysts was investigated by XRD, FESEM, EDX, BET and FTIR techniques. XRD analysis showed that addition of zirconia to nanocatalysts made copper crystallites smaller. EDX results demonstrated high dispersion and uniform morphology of particles. The FESEM results proved that the powder prepared through the urea–nitrate combustion method had nanometric particles. Catalytic performance tests indicated the good practicability and high stability of synthesized catalysts via the solution combustion method for the steam reforming of methanol. Consequently, it was found out that the ceria containing catalyst was the best among other samples. The stability test represented that the CuO/CeO2/Al2O3 catalyst was quite stable for the methanol steam reforming.