A series of Cu/ZrO2 catalysts were prepared using four different precipitators by a co-precipitation method. It was found that the Na2C2O4-NaOH precipitator derived catalyst exhibited better catalytic performance than the NaOH, Na2CO3 and Na2C2O4-Na2CO3 derived ones in the H2 generation process via the partial oxidation of methanol. Over this novel catalyst, 92% yield of hydrogen could be obtained at 533 K while the content of CO in the tail gas was less than 1.5%. In addition, the catalyst could exhibit better durability under the 110 h life testing. XRD, BET, H2-TPR, N2O titration and XPS were used to characterize the intrinsic essence of the catalyst obtained from the co-precipitation method by using NaOH and Na2C2O4.

Key words: partial oxidation of methanol (POM), Na2C2O4-NaOH, improved co-precipitation, Cu/ZrO2