OBTENCIÓN DE H2 POR REFORMADO DE METANOL EN CATALIZADORES DE COBRE SOPORTADO EN SiO2

FIXMAN E.M.; TONELLI F.; GOMEZ M. F.; GORRIZ O. F.; ARRUA L. A.; ABELLO M. C.

La Plata

Congreso; XV Congreso Argentino de Catálisis . 4to. Congreso de Catálisis del MERCOSUR; 2007

Copper (10%) silica catalysts were prepared by the single step sol-gel method, employing Cetil Trimetil Ammonium Bromide (CTAB) and Tartaric Acid (TA) as template compound in order to generate mesoporosity. The catalysts were characterized by means of BET, DRX, RTP and N2O dissociative chemisorption. Both solids show similar surface areas and copper dispersions. The solid prepared with CTAB (Cu-MCM), has an ordered mesoporous structure type MCM41, while that prepared with TA (Cu-SiTA) has a disordered mesoporous structure. The catalytic activity in the methanol reforming reaction was studied in fixed bed reactor at atmospheric pressure and 300 °C, using a molar ratio H2O/CH3OH = 1.2. When catalysts were pre-reduced, Cu-MCM shows an interesting activity (initial conversion » 65%) being CO2, H2, CO the main products, while Cu-SiTA shows very low activity. The same solid was very active when was tested without pre-reduction, demonstrating that activation conditions modifies markedly the activities of the catalysts. The post-reaction DRX patterns of catalysts show the presence of metallic copper and, in some cases, partially oxidized copper species in small amounts. The presence of the last species could be associated with the deactivation process more than with the catalyst activity.