Hydrogen production by steam reforming of dimethoxymethane over bifunctional CuO-ZnO/γ-Al2O3 catalyst

•DMM is a promising green source of hydrogen for fuel cell applications.•Performance of bifunctional СuO-ZnO/γ-Al2O3 catalyst in DMM SR was studied.•The catalyst is efficient in DMM SR to H2-rich gas with low CO (<1 vol.%) content.•The catalyst provides 100% DMM conversion with H2 productivity of 16.5 L/g h at 300° C.

Dimethoxymethane steam reforming (DMM SR) to a hydrogen-rich gas over bifunctional СuO-ZnO/γ-Al2O3 catalysts was studied. Complete DMM conversion was observed over 10wt.% СuO-5wt.% ZnO/γ-Al2O3 catalyst under atmospheric pressure, T = 280–300 °C, GHSV = 10000 h−1 and H2O/DMM = 5 mol/mol with hydrogen productivity of ∼16.5 L H2/(gcat·h). Based on the data on the performance of γ-Al2O3, CuO/γ-Al2O3 and ZnO/γ-Al2O3 under DMM SR conditions, the possible role of each catalyst component is discussed.

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