Catalytic partial oxidation of methanol over Au-Pd bimetallic catalysts: a comparative study of SBA-16, SBA-16-CeO2, and CeO2 as supports

Au-Pd catalysts supported on SBA-16, SBA-16-CeO2, and CeO2 had been studied for partial oxidation of methanol to produce H-2. The physicochemical characteristics of the catalysts prepared by deposition-precipitation using urea hydrolysis were examined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Temperature-programmed reduction (TPR), and H-2 temperature-programmed desorption (H-2-TPD) analyses. The results show that AuxPdy alloys are observed in Au-Pd/SBA-16 and Au-Pd/SBA-16-CeO2 catalysts. The catalytic results demonstrate that both Au-Pd/SBA-16 and Au-Pd/SBA-16-CeO2 catalysts exhibit higher activity and lower CO selectivity than the Au-Pd/CeO2 catalyst. This could be ascribed to the formation of AuxPdy alloys. The comparison of the Au-Pd/SBA-16 and Au-Pd/SBA-16-CeO2 catalysts reveals that the Au-Pd/SBA-16-CeO2 shows the lower CO selectivity, probably due to the presence of CeO2.