ALBERT

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Applied Energy, Volume 254〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yidian Zhang, Shaopeng Guo, Zhenyu Tian, Yawen Zhao, Yong Hao〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Nanocatalysts of compound metal oxides (La〈sub〉2〈/sub〉CuO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉)〈sub〉x〈/sub〉(CNZ-1)〈sub〉1−x〈/sub〉 (x = 0.3, 0.5, 0.7) were prepared. Steam reforming of methanol (SRM) over these nanocatalysts was experimentally studied at a H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O/methanol molar ratio of 1.6. The results showed that the methanol solution catalyzed by all catalysts synthesized in this work could be completely converted into H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉, CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 and a small amount of CO below a reaction temperature of 270 °C with a liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV) of 1.2 ml/(g·h). The catalysts of La〈sub〉2〈/sub〉CuO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 and CuO/ZnO/Al〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 were tested under the same operating conditions. Compared with La〈sub〉2〈/sub〉CuO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉, LCOx-CNZ showed better performance with a higher methanol conversion rate and H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 yield. Conversely LCO5-CNZ had better CO and H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 selectivity compared with CuO/ZnO/Al〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉3〈/sub〉. LCO3-CNZ showed good competitiveness in all four above aspects when operated at 150–270 °C. It could be concluded that LCOx-CNZ with special structures provided a significant improvement in catalytic performance of SRM benefiting from the synergistic effect among La〈sub〉2〈/sub〉CuO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 and CuZnAl oxides. Thermodynamics analysis and experiments using a hybrid power generation system were applied with the above catalysts. Under direct normal irradiation at 915 W/m〈sup〉2〈/sup〉 and a reaction temperature of 230 °C, LCO3-CNZ showed 9.7% higher H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 yield and 3.9% higher net solar power generation efficiency than did Cu/Zn/Al oxides.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉