Hydrogen production from formic acid in fluidized bed made out of Ni-cenosphere catalyst

Abstract

This research presents a method of hydrogen production from formic acid with the use of fluidized bed technology. The core-shell catalyst was developed by applying the Ni layer on cenospheres via a technique of gaseous deposition. The efficiency of the decomposition of formic acid was tested continuously in the range of 200–500 °C. An analytical method, based on infrared spectroscopy, allowing the continuous monitoring of the concentration of products in the gas phase has been developed. A 67% yield of hydrogen was achieved at 233 °C. The proposed solution in a fluidized bed has been compared with other methods of obtaining hydrogen from formic acid. The most important advantages of the proposed solutions are on-demand hydrogen generation; the use of an energy carrier that can be obtained from biomass or CO2; simplicity of the process including easy control of the process temperature; repeatability; ease of scaling the fluidized process; the possibility of continuous monitoring of the products of the process; high efficiency of hydrogen generation per unit volume of the reactor.