Enhanced hydrogen production with tunable CO/CO2 selectivity using rational design of Cu-based trimetallic catalysts

Abstract

Energy is a primary need in the modern era, leading to a significant increase in demand and a surge in fossil fuel combustion. This results in the release of large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, causing negative effects and highlighting the need for more environmentally friendly alternatives. The Methanol Steam Reforming (MSR) method, using a Cu-based catalyst with dopants, is selected for hydrogen production because it is low-cost, utilizes readily available materials, offers promising stability, and can be easily modified with other metals. The characterization techniques employed include SAA, TEM, XRD, FE-SEM-EDS, XPS, H2-TPR, and XRF. The reaction results for all Cu-based catalyst variations (monometallic, bimetallic, and trimetallic) show difference selectivity of CO dan CO2 with a range of 0-45.26% and 0-55.05%, respectively, and which leads to different H2 production under different temperature conditions. This study demonstrates the synergistic effect of the trimetallic catalyst CuZnCo/TiO2 for methanol steam reforming at 350 °C with a methanol-to-water molar ratio of 1:2, achieving complete methanol conversion (100%) and hydrogen production of 600.6 mmol h−1 g−1cat. Therefore, trimetallic catalysts are shown to be promising materials for hydrogen production through the methanol steam reforming reaction.