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PP-III-51HYDROGEN PRODUCTION BY METHANOL STEAM REFORMINGOVER COBALT CATALYSTSPapavasiliou J. 1 , Papadopoulou E. 1,2 , Ioannides T. 11 Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH), Institute of ChemicalEngineering and High Temperature Chemical Processes (ICE-HT), Patras, Greece2 Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Patras, Patras, GreeceIntroductionThe primary fuel for PEM fuel cells is H 2 , which can be supplied from liquid fuels,such as methanol, ethanol, and others. Steam reforming of methanol (SRM) canprovide a product gas with high H 2 content (up to 75%) and low CO concentration (1-2%). The high oxygen mobility and strong interaction with other phases make CeO 2 avery interesting support or promoter for catalysts used in reactions involvinghydrogen. Moreover, many authors have highlighted zirconia as a suitable supportdue to its high thermal and mechanical stability and redox properties. The insertion ofZrO 2 into the CeO 2 structure has been reported to enhance its redox properties aswell as the thermal stability [1]. Consequently, CeO 2 -ZrO 2 has shown a greatpotential as a catalyst support of reforming catalysts. Cobalt-based catalysts havebeen reported to have superior ethanol steam reforming performance due to theirhigh activity in C–C bond cleavage at temperatures as low as 350–400 °C [2]. Inspite of dissimilarities reflecting differences in molecular structure, there are severalmarked common features of methanol and ethanol in reforming processes. In thispreliminary work, cobalt-based catalysts, i.e. Co-Ce, Co-Zr and Co-Ce-Zr mixedoxides, were prepared by two different methods, urea-nitrate combustion method(CM) and molten salts method (MSM), and tested on SRM.ExperimentalCo/CeO 2 , Co/ZrO 2 and Co/CeO 2 -ZrO 2 (16 wt% CeO 2 /ZrO 2 ) catalysts wereprepared by two different methods, CM [3] and MSM [4]. All catalysts contained10 wt% Co. The effect of preparation parameters (i.e. urea content in the CM andwater addition in the MSM) on the catalytic properties of Co based catalysts werealso investigated.XRD patterns of the oxides were collected with a Bruker D8 Advancediffractometer using Cu K a radiation. The specific surface area (S BET ) of the sampleswas analyzed by N 2 adsorption using a Quantachrome Autosorb-1 instrument.533