The carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been proposed as new effective promoters for preparing highly selective modified Cu/ZnO/Al₂O₃ catalysts for hydrogen production from steam reforming of methanol. It is demonstrated that the CNTs modified catalyst exhibits superior performance in terms of higher H₂ formation rate and suppressed formation of CO in the low temperature steam reforming of methanol. It was suggested that the intrinsic nature of CNTs may favor the generation of modified catalyst with highly porous network structure and much larger metallic copper surface area, leading to improved copper dispersion, which could be crucial for its remarkably high activity and selectivity for hydrogen production.

Key words: steam reforming of methanol, hydrogen production, carbon nanotubes(CNTs), Cu/ZnO/Al₂O₃ catalyst