Effect of γ-Al2O3 characteristics on hydrogen production of Cu/γ-Al2O3 catalyst for steam reforming of dimethyl ether

Abstract The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of the characteristics of γ-Al2O3 on hydrogen production and the stability of the Cu/γ-Al2O3 dimethyl ether steam reforming (SR) catalyst. Cu/γ-Al2O3 catalysts with various amounts of Cu were prepared by impregnation into γ-Al2O3 having different surface characteristics. The results demonstrate that the characteristics of the γ-Al2O3 support greatly affect the hydrogen production performance of the Cu-based/γ-Al2O3 DME SR catalysts, and that carbon deposition increased with the amount of CO and CH4 that come from oxygenates (DME/MeOH) as coke precursors formed by DME hydrolysis reaction. The concentration of H2 produced with Cu10/γ-Al2O3(200) was up to 72%, and it was higher than that of the other catalysts. The BET of Al2O3 affects different coke resistance and durability, in which the lowest BET shows severely deactivation and weak coke resistance compared to BET 140 and 200. Cu10/γ-Al2O3(200) and (140) catalysts were more durable and stable than Cu10/γ-Al2O3(70) due to lower carbon deposition on the catalyst surface.