Preparation of catalyst from vermiculite ore and its use for sodium boronhydride hydrolysis

In this study, the usability of a Co2+ doped catalyst [(Co-Ver) cat] prepared from vermiculite ore extracted from the Yıldızeli town of Sivas province was investigated for hydrogen generation via sodium borohydride (NaBH4) hydrolysis. The prepared (Co-Ver)cat catalyst was characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), and X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyses. After activation, the highest catalytic activity was obtained with 1M HCl, using 0.15 g of 30% Co2+ doped catalyst and 7% NaOH, 2.5% NaBH4 at a process temperature of 30°C. Under these conditions, the hydrogen generation rate was calculated as 4405.79 ml gCo-1 min-1. For the NaBH4 hydrolysis reaction, the activation energy was found to be 44.6 kJ mol-1, while the reaction rate constant (k) was 0.18. It has been determined that the prepared (Co-Ver)cat catalyst has a highly reusable structure.