Hydrogen production by methanol steam reforming in the presence of Ni-Cu/zeolite catalyst

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the effect of Ni-Cu/Zeolite catalysts on hydrogen production via methanol steam reforming. Catalysts were synthesized by loading different ratios of Ni and Cu as a constant mass ratio of %15 metal loading and the samples were subjected to XRF, XRD, TGA, FT-IR, BET, particle size analysis, and SEM-EDS methods to observe the changes in their structure and properties. In the methanol steam reforming process, the catalytic activities of catalysts were examined at 200–400 °C, at atmospheric pressure, and by feeding methanol and water with 2.5:1 S/C molar ratios. The highest hydrogen gas product mixture was obtained with the 7.5Ni7.5Cu/Zeolite catalyst at 200 °C with 99.01% H2 selectivity, 2.78 mol H2/mol MeOH yield, and 99.61% methanol conversion. Then, this catalyst was subjected to a stability test, and it was observed that there was no decrease in catalyst activity for 64 hours. In addition, the XRD, TGA, and DTG characterizations of all used catalysts were repeated, and the catalyst efficiency and coke formation were investigated. In addition to experimental studies, thermodynamic modeling of methanol steam reforming was carried out using Aspen Plus V8.8 software. The simulation and experimental studies state that these two approaches are compatible.