Synthesis gas adjustment by low temperature sorption enhanced water-gas shift reaction through a copper-zeolite 13X hybrid material

•Copper supported on 13X zeolite binderless beads showed high activity for WGSR.•The benefit of SE-WGSR was shown in both transient and steady-state operation.•CO2 was removed resulting in 35 mol% of hydrogen at 473 K and 100 kPa.

Water-gas shift reaction (WGSR) and sorption enhanced water-gas shift reaction (SE-WGSR) were studied over Cu-zeolite 13X hybrid material (containing the catalyst and CO2 sorbent) in the temperature range between 398 and 548 K. The copper phase was deposited by wet impregnation of binderless beads of 13X zeolite. The catalysts were characterized by N2 sorption, XRD, He pycnometry and SEM-EDX techniques. In addition, the Cu-zeolite 13X hybrid material was also compared with a previously prepared and examined hybrid material, Cu-hydrotalcite hybrid material, used for the same purpose, the SE-WGSR.

Graphical abstractActive copper phase dispersed in the sorbent is used to overcome thermodynamic restrictions for the water-gas-shift reaction (WGSR). This allows that WGSR catalysts can produce pure hydrogen at low temperatures.Download high-res image (216KB)Download full-size image