Development of New Cu⁰–Zn^II/Al₂O₃Catalyst Supported on Copper Metallic Foam for the Production of Hydrogen by Methanol Steam Reforming

Methods for the catalytic activation of metallic structured substrates

“…11,37 Even though fewer applications to catalytic processes (e.g. methane steam reforming, 38,39 CO oxidation, 40 VOC abatement, 41 soot and NO x abatement, 42 Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, 43 methanol synthesis 44 ) have been proposed in the literature (Table 1), metallic open-cell foams offer similar advantages to honeycomb monoliths, including i) high porosity, ii) high surface-to-volume ratios therefore leading to high activity per unit reactor volume, 45 iii) reduced pressure drop, 46 iv) high mechanical strength which allows the design of light and stiff components, 47 v) limited impact of internal mass transfer resistances and vi) high radial heat transfer rates when adopting conductive substrate materials, due to the enhanced heat conduction within the thermally connected solid matrix, therefore limiting temperature gradients and hot/cold spots in highly exo-/endothermic processes. 13,45,47 With respect to honeycomb monoliths, sponges also exhibit greater gas/solid heat and mass transfer rates (but a greater pressure drop) thanks to the tortuous fluid flow paths within the foam structure.…”

“…Substrates made of copper are not suitable for chemical etching, since copper violently reacts with NH 3 , HNO 3 and HCl, giving the respective salts. 161 Nevertheless, Catillon et al 38 claim a chemical pretreatment step of their copper foam samples, but no detailed information concerning the procedure are available.…”

“…ZSM-5 powder). Catillon et al, 38 instead, immersed copper foams in a colloidal solution containing acidified alumina sol and alumina powder.…”

Open Celled Material Structural Properties Measurement: From Morphology To Transport Properties

“…Thus, model remains yet only qualitative. [7][8][9] Recent observation using X-ray microtomography 10,11) showed up the feasibility of the 3D reconstruction and basics measurements on X-ray tomography and proves that this technique is suitable for the investigation of the microstructure of foams. Nevertheless, very few works uses real geometry (usually obtained from 3D X-ray tomography) to determine physical properties.…”

A comparison between washcoated and packed copper foams for the intensification of methane steam reforming

“…10 Catillon et al tested the combination of copper foams with a commercial Cu-ZnO/Al 2 O 3 catalyst to improve the heat exchange in a reactor, obtaining improvements with respect to a commercial catalyst in the form of pellets. 11 Fewer efforts have been made to investigate the use of copper matrices in the highly energy demanding methane reforming process. Qi et al investigated the deposition and catalytic activity of a Ni-based catalyst supported on Mg/Al metal oxide, which was washcoated onto a copper foam for solar dry reforming of methane.…”