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This invention is directed to a process for reforming an alcohol. The process comprises contacting an alcohol with a reforming catalyst comprising copper at the surface of a metal supporting structure, preferably a metal sponge supporting structure comprising nickel. In a certain preferred embodimen

This invention is directed to a process for reforming an alcohol. The process comprises contacting an alcohol with a reforming catalyst comprising copper at the surface of a metal supporting structure, preferably a metal sponge supporting structure comprising nickel. In a certain preferred embodiment, hydrogen produced by the reforming process is used as a fuel source for a hydrogen fuel cell to generate electric power, particularly for driving a vehicle.

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What is claimed is: 1. A process for reforming an alcohol, the process comprising: contacting a feed gas mixture comprising an alcohol with a reforming catalyst to produce a reforming product mixture comprising hydrogen, the reforming catalyst comprising a metal sponge supporting structure and a co

What is claimed is: 1. A process for reforming an alcohol, the process comprising: contacting a feed gas mixture comprising an alcohol with a reforming catalyst to produce a reforming product mixture comprising hydrogen, the reforming catalyst comprising a metal sponge supporting structure and a copper coating at least partially covering the surface of the metal sponge supporting structure, wherein the metal sponge supporting structure is prepared by a process comprising leaching aluminum from an alloy comprising aluminum and a base metal. 2. A process as set forth in claim 1, wherein the feed gas mixture comprises a primary alcohol selected from the group consisting of methanol, ethanol and mixtures thereof. 3. A process as set forth in claim 2, wherein the process further comprises introducing hydrogen from the reforming product mixture and oxygen into a fuel cell to produce electric power. 4. A process as set forth in claim 1, wherein the reforming catalyst has a surface area of from about 10 m2/g to about 100 m2/g as measured by the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method. 5. A process as set forth in claim 4, wherein the reforming catalyst has a surface area of from about 25 m2/g to about 100 m2/g as measured by the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method. 6. A process as set forth in claim 5, wherein the reforming catalyst has a surface area of from about 30 m2/g to about 80 m2/g as measured by the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method. 7. A process as set forth in claim 1, wherein the reforming catalyst comprises at least about 10% by weight copper. 8. A process as set forth in claim 1, wherein the reforming catalyst comprises from about 10% to about 90% by weight copper. 9. A process as set forth in claim 1, wherein the metal sponge supporting structure of the reforming catalyst has a surface area of at least about 10 m2/g as measured by the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method. 10. A process as set forth in claim 9, wherein the metal sponge supporting structure of the reforming catalyst has a surface area of at least about 50 m2/g as measured by the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method. 11. A process as set forth in claim 10, wherein the metal sponge supporting structure of the reforming catalyst has a surface area of at least about 70 m2/g as measured by the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method. 12. A process as set forth in claim 9, wherein the metal sponge supporting structure comprises nickel. 13. A process as set forth in claim 12, wherein the metal sponge supporting structure comprises at least about 50% by weight nickel. 14. A process as set forth in claim 13, wherein the metal sponge supporting structure comprises at least about 85% by weight nickel. 15. A process as set forth in claim 12, wherein the reforming catalyst comprises from about 10% to about 80% by weight copper. 16. A process as set forth in claim 15, wherein the reforming catalyst comprises from about 20% to about 45% by weight copper. 17. A process as set forth in claim 12, wherein the reforming catalyst comprises from about 5 to about 100 μmol/g of nickel at the surface of said catalyst. 18. A process as set forth in claim 17, wherein the reforming catalyst comprises from about 10 to about 80 μmol/g of nickel at the surface of said catalyst. 19. A process as set forth in claim 18, wherein the reforming catalyst comprises from about 15 to about 75 μmol/g of nickel at the surface of said catalyst. 20. A process as set forth in claim 12, wherein the feed gas mixture comprises a primary alcohol selected from the group consisting of methanol, ethanol and mixtures thereof. 21. A process as set forth in claim 20, wherein the feed gas mixture comprises ethanol. 22. A process as set forth in claim 21 wherein the reforming product mixture comprises methane. 23. A process as set forth in claim 22 comprising feeding methane obtained in the reforming product mixture to an internal combustion engine. 24. A process as set forth in claim 22 comprising feeding hydrogen obtained in the reforming product mixture to an internal combustion engine. 25. A process as set forth in claim 12, wherein the process further comprises introducing hydrogen from the reforming product mixture and oxygen into a fuel cell to produce electric power. 26. A process as set forth in claim 1, wherein said feed gas mixture is contacted with said reforming catalyst at a temperature below about 400° C. 27. A process as set forth in claim 1, wherein said feed gas mixture is contacted with said reforming catalyst at a temperature of from about 200° C. to about 375° C. 28. A process as set forth in claim 27, wherein said feed gas mixture is contacted with said reforming catalyst at a temperature of from about 250° C. to about 325° C. 29. A process as set forth in claim 1, wherein the reforming catalyst is incorporated onto the surface of a pellet or a monolith substrate. 30. A process as set forth in claim 29, wherein the reforming catalyst comprises a nickel sponge supporting structure. 31. A process as set forth in claim 1 wherein preparation of the reforming catalyst comprises depositing copper onto the metal sponge supporting structure. 32. A process as set forth in claim 31 wherein copper is deposited by a method comprising electrochemical displacement reaction between a metal of the metal sponge supporting structure and copper ions. 33. A process as set forth in claim 31 wherein copper is deposited by a method comprising electroless plating of copper metal on the metal sponge supporting structure. 34. A process as set forth in claim 1 wherein the base metal comprises copper and/or a non-copper metal selected from the group consisting of nickel, cobalt, zinc, silver, palladium, gold, tin, iron and mixtures thereof. 35. A process as set forth in claim 34 wherein the base metal comprises copper and/or a non-copper metal selected from the group consisting of nickel, cobalt and mixtures thereof. 36. A process as set forth in claim 35, wherein the base metal comprises nickel. 37. A process for reforming ethanol, the process comprising contacting a feed gas mixture comprising ethanol with a reforming catalyst at a temperature below about 400° C. to produce a reforming product mixture comprising hydrogen, said reforming catalyst comprising copper on the surface of a metal supporting structure. 38. A process as set forth in claim 37, wherein said feed gas mixture is contacted with said reforming catalyst at a temperature of from about 250° C. to about 300° C. 39. A process as set forth in claim 37, wherein the reforming catalyst has a thermal conductivity at 300K of at least about 50 W/m·K. 40. A process as set forth in claim 39, wherein the reforming catalyst has a thermal conductivity at 300K of at least about 70 W/m·K. 41. A process as set forth in claim 40, wherein the reforming catalyst has a thermal conductivity at 300K of at least about 90 W/m·K. 42. A process as set forth in claim 37, wherein the process further comprises introducing hydrogen from the reforming product mixture and oxygen into a fuel cell to produce electric power. 43. A process as set forth in claim 37, wherein the reforming catalyst has a surface area of from about 10 m2/g to about 100 m2/g as measured by the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method. 44. A process as set forth in claim 43, wherein the reforming catalyst has a surface area of from about 25 m2/g to about 100 m2/g as measured by the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method. 45. A process as set forth in claim 44, wherein the reforming catalyst has a surface area of from about 30 m2/g to about 80 m2/g as measured by the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method. 46. A process as set forth in claim 37, wherein the reforming catalyst comprises at least about 10% by weight copper. 47. A process as set forth in claim 46, wherein the reforming catalyst comprises from about 10% to about 90% by weight copper. 48. A process as set forth in claim 37, wherein the metal supporting structure comprises a metal sponge. 49. A process as set forth in claim 48 wherein the metal sponge supporting structure is prepared by a process comprising leaching aluminum from an alloy comprising aluminum and a base metal. 50. A process as set forth in claim 49 wherein the base metal comprises copper and/or a non-copper metal selected from the group consisting of nickel, cobalt, zinc, silver, palladium, gold, tin, iron and mixtures thereof. 51. A process as set forth in claim 50 wherein the base metal comprises copper and/or a non-copper metal selected from the group consisting of nickel, cobalt and mixtures thereof. 52. A process as set forth in claim 51 wherein the base metal comprises nickel. 53. A process as set forth in claim 48 wherein the reforming catalyst comprises a copper coating at least partially covering the surface of the metal sponge supporting structure. 54. A process as set forth in claim 53 wherein preparation of the reforming catalyst comprises depositing copper onto the metal sponge supporting structure. 55. A process as set forth in claim 54 wherein copper is deposited by a method comprising electrochemical displacement reaction between a metal of the metal sponge supporting structure and copper ions. 56. A process as set forth in claim 54 wherein copper is deposited by a method comprising electroless plating of copper metal on the metal sponge supporting structure. 57. A process as set forth in claim 48, wherein the metal sponge supporting structure of the reforming catalyst has a surface area of at least about 10 m2/g as measured by the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method. 58. A process as set forth in claim 57, wherein the metal sponge supporting structure of the reforming catalyst has a surface area of at least about 50 m2/g as measured by the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method. 59. A process as set forth in claim 58, wherein the metal sponge supporting structure of the reforming catalyst has a surface area of at least about 70 m2/g as measured by the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method. 60. A process as set forth in claim 48, wherein the metal sponge supporting structure comprises nickel. 61. A process as set forth in claim 60, wherein the metal sponge supporting structure comprises at least about 50% by weight nickel. 62. A process as set forth in claim 61, wherein the metal sponge supporting structure comprises at least about 85% by weight nickel. 63. A process as set forth in claim 60, wherein the reforming catalyst comprises from about 10% to about 80% by weight copper. 64. A process as set forth in claim 63, wherein the reforming catalyst comprises from about 20% to about 45% by weight copper. 65. A process as set forth in claim 60, wherein the reforming catalyst comprises from about 5 to about 100 μmol/g of nickel at the surface of said catalyst. 66. A process as set forth in claim 65, wherein the reforming catalyst comprises from about 10 to about 80 μmol/g of nickel at the surface of said catalyst. 67. A process as set forth in claim 66, wherein the reforming catalyst comprises from about 15 to about 75 μmol/g of nickel at the surface of said catalyst. 68. A process as set forth in claim 60, wherein the process further comprises introducing hydrogen from the reforming product mixture and oxygen into a fuel cell to produce electric power. 69. A process as set forth in claim 37, wherein the reforming catalyst is incorporated onto the surface of a pellet or a monolith substrate. 70. A process as set forth in claim 69, wherein the reforming catalyst comprises a nickel sponge supporting structure. 71. A process as set forth in claim 37 wherein the reforming product mixture comprises methane. 72. A process as set forth in claim 71 comprising feeding methane obtained in the reforming product mixture to an internal combustion engine. 73. A process as set forth in claim 71 comprising feeding hydrogen obtained in the reforming product mixture to an internal combustion engine.