Low CO content hydrogen production from oxidative steam reforming of ethanol over CuO-CeO2 catalysts at low-temperature

CuO-CeO2 catalysts were prepared by a urea precipitation method for the oxidative steam reforming of ethanol at low-temperature. The catalytic performance was evaluated and the catalysts were characterized by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, temperature-programmed reduction, field emission scanning electron microscopy and thermo-gravimetric analysis. Over CuO-CeO2 catalysts, H2 with low CO content was produced in the whole tested temperature range of 250–450 °C. The non-noble metal catalyst 20CuCe showed higher H2 production rate than 1%/oRh/CeO2 catalyst at 300–400 °C and the advantage was more obvious after 20 h testing at 400 °C. These results further confirmed that CuO-CeO2 catalysts may be suitable candidates for low temperature hydrogen production from ethanol.