Development of supported nanocatalysts for hydrogen production technologies

In this thesis, the development of nanocatalysts for two different hydrogen production technologies is described. In the first part, a series of supported Ni-Co catalysts were tested for activity in the catalytic partial oxidation of methane to hydrogen/syngas. A 2 wt.% Ni 1 wt.% Co bimetallic catalyst was found to have the highest activity and selectivity among all the catalysts tested. This catalyst was also shown to be relatively resistant to coking.Next, the preparation of Ru and Ru-Pt ethanol steam reforming catalysts from organometallic cluster precursors is described. The cluster-derived catalysts were found to be vastly superior to their conventional salt-derived counterparts in both catalytic activity and selectivity to hydrogen; they also outperformed a Co/ZnO catalyst which was one of the best reported catalysts for this reaction. Results suggest that the presence of Pt might help to reduce the rate of coking over both cluster- and salt-derived catalysts.

Author dc:creator

• KOH CHIN WAI, ALARIC

• hydrogen production, methane, ethanol, organometallic cluster, bimetallic catalyst