Methods and apparatus for producing hydrogen peroxide

Abstract

Apparatuses and methods for producing hydrogen peroxide by performing coupled chemical and electrochemical reactions are disclosed. An electrochemical cell has a chemical reaction chamber configured to hydrogenate a shuttle molecule and an electrochemical chamber configured to electrochemically dissociate water to form hydrogen ions at an anode, and to reduce the hydrogen ions to atomic hydrogen at a cathode. The chemical reaction chamber and the anode chamber are separated by a metallic membrane. The metallic membrane acts as a cathode of the cell, a hydrogen-selective layer and a catalyst. The metallic membrane may comprise a layer of palladium or a palladium alloy. A layer of co-catalyst may optionally be electrodeposited on the layer of palladium or palladium alloy. An ion exchange membrane separates the metallic membrane and the anode chamber. The hydrogenated shuttle molecule may be supplied to a reactor for contacting an oxygen-containing gas to yield hydrogen peroxide.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.