Preparation and performance analysis of integrated electric heating hydrogen production foam catalyst

Abstract

Transitioning from fossil fuels to electricity as an energy source for industrial production is a crucial step toward future decarbonization. This study proposes a novel integrated electric heating hydrogen production foam catalyst and systematically investigates the influence of slurry composition and sintering temperature on the carrier strength. The research successfully obtains a catalyst with the required strength and significantly enhances the catalyst loading capacity. The findings indicate that: 1) Increasing the calcination temperature above 1200 °C can enhance foam strength and reduce cracks and voids in foam structure and joints. 2) Ceramics are more advantageous for the coating of the catalyst, enabling a catalyst loading of up to 152.11 g/L, which is 2.98 times higher than the maximum reported loading for electrically heated catalysts, the shedding rate is only 1.86 %. 3) The integrated foam catalyst is heated by an internal heating wire through in-situ Joule heating, reaching 650 °C in just 83 s. This approach, when compared to an external heating furnace, results in a 96.8 % reduction in start-up time, a 91 % reduction in total energy consumption. The integrated electrically heated foam enables a straightforward high-temperature insulation seal, making it suitable for various reactor materials and providing valuable insights for the broader application of electric heating.