Low-temperature 3D-Printed porous microreactors with magnetic induction heating for methanol steam reforming to hydrogen

Methanol steam reforming (MSR) is considered one of the most promising hydrogen production technologies. However, MSR currently faces challenges such as low heat transfer efficiency in the reactor and suboptimal hydrogen production rates. To address these issues, this study proposes a method for fabricating low-temperature 3D-printed porous microreactors, exploring the effects of processing temperature and the use of silica sol with different pH values as a binder. Furthermore, the microreactor is integrated with a magnetic induction heating system, enabling real-time hydrogen production. This method ensures uniform catalyst distribution while overcoming the problem of excessive temperature differences between the support preparation and catalyst loading steps, which typically leads to catalyst accumulation on the surface of the support. Using neutral silica sol and a low-temperature treatment at 300 °C, the microreactor exhibited optimal catalytic performance. During the MSR process, the microreactor achieved complete methanol conversion at 260 °C with H₂ selectivity ranging from 76.9 % to 78.5 %, while maintaining low selectivity for CO (<1.56 %) and CH₄ (<0.08 %). Moreover, the microreactor demonstrated excellent stability and long-term performance, maintaining 88 % methanol conversion after 100 h of operation. This work addresses the temperature mismatch issue between catalyst loading and support preparation, providing new insights and methods for the practical application and industrialization of low-temperature, high-efficiency hydrogen production technologies.