Study of CuCoZnAl oxide as catalyst for the hydrogen production from ethanol reforming

Ethanol steam reforming was studied over CuCoZnAl oxide with the addition of potassium. The catalyst was prepared by the coprecipitation method and characterized by X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetry, Raman spectroscopy, temperature programmed reduction, BET specific surface area and SEM-EDAX. The influence of reaction temperature was examined between 400 and 600 °C with a H2O/C2H5OH molar ratio of 3.8. At 600 °C, the catalyst was very active with an ethanol conversion of 100%. The main products were CO2 and CO and minor amounts of CH4. The hydrogen yield was 5.2 mol of H2 per mol of ethanol, which means a high hydrogen selectivity (87%). Stable activity and selectivity were obtained at 600 °C which could be attributed to the removing of carbonaceous deposits.