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Partial Oxidation of Methanol (POM) over Transition Metal-Promoted Nanostructured Gold Catalysts Supported on CeO2–ZrO2

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Abstract

Partial methanol oxidation (POM) is one of the possible routes for H2 generation onboard for fuel cell-driven vehicles. The reaction was carried out with a stoichiometric ratio of CH3OH to O2 in the feed following the equation CH3OH + ½O2 → CO2 + 2H2. Transition metals (Fe, Ni, Co, Cu, and Zn) were used as a promoter over Au/CeO2–ZrO2 to catalyze POM reaction in the temperature range of 325–450 °C. The support was prepared from mechanically mixing of CeO2 and ZrO2. Transition metals were deposited using the impregnation method, and the deposition–precipitation method was used to deposit Au on the samples containing transition metals. A combination of methods like low-temperature N2 adsorption, powder XRD, TPR with H2, and XPS were used to evaluate the physicochemical, structural, and surface properties of the synthesized catalysts. Fe- and Cu-promoted catalysts were found less attractive due to low H2 selectivity. Ni- and Co-promoted catalysts showed a promising H2 selectivity but suffered from high CO selectivity. Interestingly, over 83% selectivity toward H2 and less than a 16% CO selectivity with 95% CH3OH conversion were found for Zn-modified Au/CeO2–ZrO2 samples at 450 °C, giving the highest yield for H2 (~ 80%) among all the investigated catalysts in this study, which makes it a promising catalyst for this process. Moreover, below 400 °C, Zn-promoted catalyst showed the lowest CO selectivity compared to Co- and Ni-promoted one.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research (DSR), King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, under Grant No. 135-773-D1435. The authors, therefore, gratefully acknowledge the DSR technical and financial support.

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  1. Chemical and Materials Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80204, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia

    Sharif F. Zaman, Abdulrahim Al-Zahrani & Aibibula Bake

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  1. Sharif F. Zaman
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  2. Abdulrahim Al-Zahrani
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Correspondence to Sharif F. Zaman.

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Zaman, S.F., Al-Zahrani, A. & Bake, A. Partial Oxidation of Methanol (POM) over Transition Metal-Promoted Nanostructured Gold Catalysts Supported on CeO2–ZrO2. Arab J Sci Eng 46, 6531–6542 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-020-05137-7

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