Start
Jan 06, 2009 - 16:00
End
Jan 06, 2009 - 17:00
Venue
Creativity Hall (Room 118) Chemical Engineering
Event Type
Speaker
Arvind Varma R. Games Slayter Distinguished Professor and Head School of Chemical Engineering Purdue University West Lafayette IN 47907 USA
Title
New Methods for Hydrogen Generation from Boron Compounds and Water
Sodium borohydride (SBH) and ammonia borane (AB) are promising hydrogen storage materials for PEM fuel cell power systems. To release hydrogen from these compounds thermolysis catalytic hydrolysis exothermic reactions with solid oxidizers or heat generated by additional reactive mixtures are usually employed. All the current methods have disadvantages which decrease the efficiency of hydrogen storage systems. In the present work we report new approaches to release hydrogen from SBH or AB and simultaneously from water which do not require any catalyst and produce relatively high hydrogen yield and environmentally benign byproducts. One such approach involves metal/water combustion reactions which provide heat for SBH or AB dehydrogenation and release additional hydrogen from water [1]. The other approach thermally activates AB hydrolysis in aqueous AB solutions under modest inert gas pressure [2]. The investigations include digital video recording pressure monitoring thermocouple measurements gas chromatography mass spectrometry powder XRD analysis NMR spectroscopy and isotopic (deuterium) labeling. The results show that the proposed methods are promising for hydrogen storage involving SBH or AB. The metal/water combustion methods could be used in compact power sources for portable electronic devices while hydrothermolysis in aqueous AB solutions is attractive for applications where off-board water is used such as ship propulsion and vehicle transportation.