Hydrogen production through sodium borohydride ethanolysis

In this work, sodium borohydride (SB) ethanolysis was explored for the first time as a method to generate hydrogen for Polymer Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells. Ethanolysis by-product was characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, X-Ray Diffraction, and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. Metal a...

ver descrição completa

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Arzac, G.M., Fernández-Camacho, A.
Tipo de documento: artigo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Data de publicação:2015
País:España
Recursos:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositório:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/114365
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/114365
Access Level:Acceso aberto
Palavra-chave:Hydrogen production
Sodium borohydride
Ethanolysis
Bioethanol
Catalyst
Descrição
Resumo:In this work, sodium borohydride (SB) ethanolysis was explored for the first time as a method to generate hydrogen for Polymer Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells. Ethanolysis by-product was characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, X-Ray Diffraction, and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. Metal and acid catalysts were tested. RuCl3·3H2O was the best metal catalyst. Acetic acid was selected for the study because of its effectiveness, low cost and relative greenness. The maximum gravimetric hydrogen density obtained was 2.1% wt. The addition of water produces an increase in hydrogen generation rate and a decrease in conversion. The use of ethanol-methanol mixtures produces an increase in reaction rates in absence of catalyst. As a proof of concept the reaction was performed in a small reactor which operates by the addition of ethanolic acetic acid solutions to solid SB (in the form of granules). The reactor produces stable and constant hydrogen generation in the range of 20–80 ml min−1 during 1 h at constant temperature (around 27–35 °C).