On-site generation of cox-free hydrogen for fuel cell from ammonia decomposition by pasma-catalysis method

PETR 116

Li Wang, wangli516413@sina.com1, Chunyang Liu1, Yue Zhao1, Hongchen Guo, hongchenguo@163.com1, Xiangsheng Wang2, and Weimin Gong1. (1) Department of Catalysis Chemistry and Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, No 158 Zhongshan Road, Dalian, 116012, China, (2) State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Dalian University of Technology, P.O. Box 39, 158 Zhongshan Road, Dalian, 116012, China
Ammonia decomposition is an appealing hydrogen production route for fuel cell application. In this presentation we would discuss a novel plasma-catalysis method for ammonia decomposition. Our motive is to apply non-equilibrium plasma to ammonia decopmposition catalyzed by non-noble metal catalysts, so as to accelerate the recombinative desorption rates of surface-adsorbed nitrogen atoms. Based on systematic explorative experiments, strong activity-enhancing synergetic effects have been seen between dielectric-barrier discharge (DBD) plasma and supported non-noble metal catalysts including Fe, Cu, Mo, Ni and Co. For example, in the case of being used separately at 490°C, the conversion of NH3 obtained with Fe/Al2O3 catalyst and DBD plasma was only 13.4% and 10.1%, respectively. However, in the same conditions the combination of the DBD plasma with Fe/Al2O3 catalyst dramatically increased the conversion of NH3 to more than 99%. Compared with Fe catalyst, Cu, Mo, Ni and Co showed better activity-enhancing synergetic effect with DBD plasma. By employing XRD, XRF, Uv-Raman, XPS, TEM and TPD, the nature of the activity-enhancing synergetic effect between DBD plasma and supported metal catalysts was investigated. The promotion of the recombinative desorption rates of surface-adsorbed nitrogen atoms by DBD plasma has been confirmed by TPD.