Enhancing methanol steam reforming via heat-transfer engineering on surface-decorated SiC@Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalysts

Abstract

Methanol steam reforming (MSR) is a promising route for on-board hydrogen production. However, its strongly endothermic nature leads to severe heat transfer limitations that compromise catalytic performance, which has not been fully investigated. Herein, a series of SiC@CZA composite catalysts with Cu/ZnO/Al 2 O 3 decorated on SiC surface were synthesized via a deposition-precipitation method. The β-SiC(m)@CZA catalyst exhibits a superior H 2 production rate of 0.68 mol/g cat /h at 230 °C without dilution. However, comprehensive characterizations reveal that the incorporation of SiC does not improve the intrinsic activity, the enhanced activity is due to the relatively high effective thermal conductivity. Furthermore, both the crystallographic phase and spatial dimensions of the SiC additive critically govern the thermal conductivity of catalyst, micro-sized β-SiC serves as the most efficient thermal promoter. These findings demonstrate that thermal management can critically govern MSR performance and provide a practical strategy for optimizing endothermic catalytic processes.