Hydrogen Production via Catalytic Steam Reforming of Methanol
摘要
Given the climate crisis and the increasing energy need of the population and industries, it is necessary to find alternative solutions on energy sector. Hydrogen is a clean and highly efficient energy carrier that can be used to generate electricity through fuel cells in order to reduce emissions of pollutants into the environment. There is a plethora of hydrogen production processes. A hydrogen production process with significant acceptance in the industrial energy sector is the catalytic reforming of methanol. The steam methanol reforming reaction is an endothermic reaction with a high yield (up to 75%). It takes place at high temperature, under heterogeneous catalysis conditions with various metal oxides and noble metals (such as Pd) as well as other transition metals (like Cu and Ni), and can be used as main catalysts achieving high activity and selectivity. Furthermore, the support of the catalyst and its surface significantly affects the conversion of the reaction into products and by-products. The catalyst must be appropriately selected as other by-products, such as carbon dioxide and monoxide, are produced through methanol reforming. Given that hydrogen is mainly used in fuel cells for the production of electricity, the amount of monoxide should be as low as possible, as it affects the cells themselves by poisoning their catalysts. Both methanol and ethanol can be used in catalytic reforming for the production of hydrogen. However, methanol, despite its toxicity, still remains superior to ethanol, as the absence of a strong C–C bond allows reforming to take place at lower temperatures (200–300 °C), which is obviously optimal in terms of cost and energy consumption. The reactor has also been found to play an important role in the amount of hydrogen produced and its purity. The aim of this chapter is to analyze the entire reforming process of methanol to hydrogen production, revealing its benefits and applications.