Development and Optimization of a Natural Sand-Based Catalyst for Hydrogen Production via Methanol Aqueous-Phase Reforming: A Response Surface Methodology

Abstract In this study, natural sand was used as a low-cost and sustainable support material for generating an original catalyst. It was subsequently modified using cerium oxide and loaded with platinum. Characterization results showed that the cerium coating significantly increased the surface area of the support material to 13.36 m 2 /g, while XRD analyses confirmed the presence of silica and ceria phases in the structure. This catalyst was used to generate hydrogen-rich gas mixtures via the aqueous-phase reforming (APR) of methanol. In order to optimize reaction performance, Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used to evaluate the effects of temperature, reaction time, and catalyst amount. A maximum gas volume of 360 mL was obtained under optimum conditions, which included a temperature of 300 °C, a reaction period of 1 h, and a catalyst amount of 1 g. The catalyst showed remarkable hydrogen selectivity with a hydrogen yield of 77.38% and a carbon monoxide yield of 0.13% under these conditions. The study demonstrated the potential of cerium-coated natural sand as an effective and environmentally friendly support for platinum-based catalysts in clean hydrogen production from methanol.