Methanol steam reforming has been carried out over catalysts prepared from glassy alloy containing a small amount of noble metals. When the alloy is treated at a temperature above the crystallization temperature, the reforming activity increases, whereas the original alloy does not have the similar activity. The reforming activity of the treated alloys increases with the decreasing content of noble metals down to 1 at%. The DSC (differential scanning calorimetry) analysis of the original alloy has revealed that the activity is related to the extent of supercooling and endothermic heat observed between the glassy temperature and crystallization temperature. Furthermore, the copper particle size of the treated alloy is related to the range of supercooling. These results indicate that the noble atoms are uniformly dispersed into the glassy Cu-Zr alloy by heating from the glass transition temperature to crystallization temperature. When the Cu-Zr alloy with a small amount of noble metals is oxidized over the crystallization temperature, the alloy changes to fine copper particles supported on zirconium oxide. A highly active reforming catalyst can be prepared from a glassy Cu-Zr alloy containing a small amount of noble metals.
