Strategy to Prevent Reverse Reactions in Water Gas Shift (WGS) Through Cu/ZnO Catalyst with MFI Type of Zeolite Support

Water gas shift (WGS) reaction under medium temperature shift (MTS) conditions opens a new way to reduce CO content from dry methane reforming and to increase hydrogen productivity.This study aims to synthesize the Cu/ZnO/ZSM-5 catalyst for WGS reaction with high feed concentrations of H2 and CO2.The reaction was carried out in a fixed bed reactor at atmospheric pressure, temperature 325 o C, and WHSV 60,000 ml/g-h using Cu/ZnO/ZSM-5 and Cu-based commercial catalyst.The Cu loading on the Cu/ZnO/ZSM-5 catalyst varied by 5, 10, and 15%-wt, while the commercial catalyst contained 58%-wt.According to the N2 physisorption, Cu/ZnO/ZSM-5 catalyst has a pore size around 2 nm.H2-TPR shows the increase in metal loading on the Cu/ZnO/ZSM-5 catalyst causes the reduction peak shift to a higher temperature.The catalyst of Cu/ZnO/ZSM-5 with a Cu content of 15% resulted in a CO conversion of 18%, a yield of H2 of 15%, and good stability for up to 8 hours.The presence of H and CO in the feed prevents the selectivity of the WGS reaction from reaching 100%.The increase in Cu metal loading increased the activity of the catalyst.The characterization was carried out to determine the physicochemical properties of the catalyst, namely, XRF, N2 physisorption, and H2-TPR.