Dolomite supported catalyst synthesis and determination of its activity in the production of hydrogen from metal hydrides

Hydrogen has an important role as an energy carrier in the future energy systems of the world due to its environmental friendly. Hydrogen production, transport and storage are key for future uses. It can be produced from metal hydrides, which is one of the hydrogen storage methods, by hydrolysis reactions. The catalytic hydrolysis of sodium borohydride is a promising and effective method, especially for fuel cells and other portable devices, provides to the release of hydrogen. Therefore, catalyst research is of great importance in the development of this technology. There has been no previous study with dolomite supported catalyst for sodium borohydride hydrolysis. In this study, dolomite supported catalysts were synthesized, characterized and their activations were determined in hydrolysis reaction with different active metals (Ni, Co) impregnation, precipitation, co-impregnation, co-precipitation, NaBH4 reduction methods. In addition, the reaction temperature (30-60 °C), active metal loading rate (10-40 wt% ), catalyst amount (25-125 mg), NaOH concentration (0.10-0.75 M), and the initial amount of NaBH4 (25-125 mg) on the hydrogen yield were investigated. Finally, Co/C-Dolomite catalyst with 40 wt% Co content was determined as the most suitable catalyst and 100% H2 production was obtained with a rate of 4956.43 mL H2/gcat.min at 60 °C reaction temperature. The activation energy was determined as 37.03 kJ/mol for the zero- order kinetic model.