Abstract
Here, boric acid (H3BO3) and its dewatered form, boron trioxide (B2O3) were tested as catalysts for hydrogen (H2) evolution in the methanolysis of sodium borohydride (NaBH4) in methanol. Parameters such as catalyst types and their amounts, NaBH4 concentration, and the reaction temperature affecting the hydrogen generation rate (HGR) were studied. It has been found that H3BO3 and B2O3 catalyzed methanolysis reaction of NaBH4 follow up first-order kinetics relative to the concentration of NaBH4. Furthermore, the conversion and activity of these catalysts were examined to determine their performance in ten consecutive use. Interestingly, H3BO3 and B2O3 have demonstrated superior catalytic performances in methanolysis of NaBH4 comparing to the studies published in literature with the activation energy of respectively 22.08 kJ.mol-1, and 23.30 kJ.mol-1 in H2 production. The HGR was calculated as 6481 mL.min-1.g-1 and 5163 mL.min-1.g-1 for H3BO3 and B2O3 catalyst, respectively for 50 mg catalyst at 298 K. These results are comparably better than most metal nanoparticle catalysts used for H2 production in addition to the naturally occurring boron-based environmentally friendliness of these materials.
Highlights
The energy need with the industrial development is on the rise
H3BO3 and B2O3 were exploited as a catalyst in H2 generation reaction due to their environmentally benign and boron-containing nature
Thermal degradation patterns of H3BO3 and B2O3 were elucidated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and the corresponding TG thermograms are demonstrated in Fig. 1 (b)
Summary
The energy need with the industrial development is on the rise. The environmental anxieties from fossil fuel consumption along with the pursue of cleaner and high energy density materials help to pave the roads for fast hydrogen (H2) production systems from various new sources [1,2,3,4]. Methanolysis reaction of NaBH4 is wellknown for acid catalysis, directly or indirectly e.g., increasing proton numbers in the reaction media affect the H2 generation rate positively [31, 32] Boron chemicals such as boric acid and boron oxide were employed the methanolysis of NaBH4 as catalysts, and their catalytic activities were determined and compared. A new catalytic pathway is presented to produce clean and sustainable energy source H2 from the methanolysis of NaBH4 using H3BO3 and B2O3 as direct catalysts. These boron-containing catalysts are environmentally benign and have been used as a green catalyst in the methanolysis of NaBH4. The reuse performance of the catalysts was investigated by employing the same catalysts in ten consecutive runs in the same reaction taking into consideration of the change in their activity and conversion%
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