Ammonia decomposition catalyst systems
AssigneeUniversity of South Carolina
InventorsKatherine McCullough, Jochen Lauterbach
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Abstract
In general, disclosed herein are methods for forming hydrogen by use of an ammonia decomposition catalyst system. For instance, a method can include contacting a catalyst system with an ammonia source at a temperature of about 450° C. or lower. The catalyst systems can include a support material and a trimetallic catalyst component carried on the support material and within a reactor. Disclosed catalyst systems can decompose ammonia at relatively low temperatures and can provide an efficient and cost-effective route to utilization of ammonia as a carbon-free hydrogen storage and generation material.
Claims14
A method for forming hydrogen, the method comprising:
- providing ammonia from an ammonia source to a first heat exchanger and pre-heating the ammonia in the first heat exchanger;
- feeding the ammonia that has been pre-heated to a reactor and contacting the ammonia with an ammonia decomposition catalyst system within the reactor at a reaction temperature of about 450° C. or lower to form a reaction product comprising hydrogen, wherein the catalyst system comprises a support material and a trimetallic catalyst component carried on the support material, wherein the trimetallic catalyst component includes no more than three metals and comprises a first metal being ruthenium, a second metal selected from the group consisting of magnesium, calcium, hafnium, scandium, rhenium, strontium, and yttrium, and a promoter comprising an alkali metal, wherein the ruthenium and the second metal are present in a weight ratio to one another of from about 8:1 to about 1:8, wherein the ruthenium is present in an amount of less than 4 wt. % of the catalyst system and the promoter is present in an amount of from about 5 wt. % to about 20 wt. % of the catalyst system;
- and
- separating the hydrogen from the reaction product using a hydrogen selective membrane fluidly connected to the catalyst system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.