Liquid Organic Hydrides for Hydrogen Storage

Abstract

The hydrogenation of aromatic components is of increasing interest due to the more stringent environmental legislation. In this work, the hydrogenation of toluene is approached as a part of the hydrogen storage in the form of liquid organic hydrides (methylcyclohexane). Storage of hydrogen in the form of liquid organic hydrides has been proposed involving methylcyclohexane. Hydrogen is generally regarded as a possible important future energy carrier for automotive and other applications. Hydrogen as an automotive fuel can be used in conventional internal combustion engines, but can also be applied in proton exchange membrane fuel cell vehicles. The catalytic experiments were made in a tubular pyrex glass fixed bed reactor (with a 20 mm diameter). The temperature range was between 150°C and 210°C under a total pressure of about 1 atm. Power law rate models were tested for the experimental data. All the models were analyzed with Analysis ToolPak Lineer Regression Method for the results. Model r = k·Pm H2·Pn TOL is best fitted for the experimental results. The values for k, m, and n were found to increase as the temperature increased.