Redox cycle stability of mixed oxides used for hydrogen generation in the cyclic water gas shift process

Abstract

Repeated cycles of the reduction of Fe3O4 with reductive gas, e.g. hydrogen and subsequent oxidation of the reduced iron material with water vapor can be harnessed as a process for the production of pure hydrogen. The redox behavior of iron oxide modified with various amounts of SiO2, CaO and Al2O3 was investigated in the present study. The total amount of the additional metal oxides was always below 15wt%. The samples were prepared by co-precipitation using urea hydrolysis method. The influence of various metal oxides on the hydrogen production capacity and the material stability was studied in detail in terms of temperature-programmed reduction (TPR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and BET analysis. Furthermore, the activity and the stability of the samples were tested in repeated reduction with diluted H2 and re-oxidation cycles with H2O. The results indicate that combination of several oxides as promoter increases the stability of the iron oxide material by mitigating the sintering process. The positive influence of the oxides in stabilizing the iron oxide material is attributed to the impediment of neck formation responsible for sintering.