Effect of the Modification of Pd/CeO2 Catalyst on Steam Reforming of Methane at Low Temperature in an Electric Field

摘要

These days, hydrogen atracts a lot of attention as a clean secondary energy taking the place of petroleum because only water is emitted from the combustion of hydrogen. Hydrogen demand is expected to increase from the viewpoint of environmental protection and an increasing use of fuel cell for vehicles or home systems. Methane steam reforming (MSR) is a primary process to produce hydrogen. Generally, this reaction is conducted at high temperature over 923 K because of the thermodynamic equilibrium and the stability of methane molecule. Such high temperature catalytic processes cause many problems such as sintering of catalyst, damage to plants, necessity for multi-heat exchangers and discarding low-temperature waste heat (under 500 K). Especially, heat loss leads to a decline in energy efficiency. Therefore, it is required to utilize effectively low-temperature waste heat. According to that, the new MSR catalytic process which proceeds at low temperature is demanded.