COx free hydrogen production over cobalt incorporated silicate structured mesoporous catalysts

On board hydrogen production for fuel-cell derived motor vehicles requires resources for COx free hydrogen production. Ammonia is one of the most attractive hydrogen storage compounds which may yield clean hydrogen through catalytic decomposition. In the present study, new cobalt incorporated mesoporous silicate catalysts were prepared for ammonia decomposition, by applying a one-pot hydrothermal synthesis procedure. Ammonia decomposition experiments were performed in a fixed bed flow reactor in a temperature range of 400-750 degrees C. While all of the synthesized catalysts showed good activity in hydrogen production from ammonia at temperatures higher than 500 degrees C and at a space velocity of 150,000 h(-1), catalysts prepared with KOH promoter gave the highest activity with 70% conversion at 600 degrees C and close to total conversion at 700 degrees C. Reduction temperature and period of the synthesized catalysts were also shown to be highly effective on the catalytic performance of the synthesized materials. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.