Chemical Engineering May 2017 - 13

A catalyst for making H2 from methanol
P
olymer electrolyte membrane
fuel cells (PEMFCs)
running on hydrogen are
an attractive
proposition,
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particularly as a power source for
motor vehicles. In situ release of
the required H2 from a stable liquid
ensures its safe storage and
transportation before use. Use of
methanol is especially attractive because
it can reform itself with water
to release H2. However, traditional
reforming of methanol steam operates
at relatively high temperatures
of 200-350°C, and therefore
the focus for vehicle and portable
PEMFC applications has been on
aqueous-phase reforming of methanol
(APRM).
Now a group from Peking University
(Beijing, China; www.pku.edu.
cn) led by professor Ding Ma has
reported a new catalyst - platinum
atomically dispersed on a-molybdenum
carbide (a-MoC) - enables
low-temperature (150-190°C) basefree
(avoiding the caustic hydroxide)
H2 production through APRM,
with an average turnover frequency
of 18,046 moles of hydrogen per
mole of platinum per hour. Ma attributes
this to the outstanding ability
of a-MoC to induce water dissociation
and to the fact that platinum and
a-MoC act in synergy to activate
methanol and then to reform it.
Ma says that a 50-L tank of methanol
and catalyst with 6-10 g of
platinum could power a Toyota Mirai
for about 690 km. The methanol
would cost about $15, and the platinum
about $320, but the catalyst is
potentially recyclable. Ma says that
automobile catalytic converters now
contain 1-4 g of recyclable noble
metals, so 8 g of platinum is not a
comparably large number.
The type of catalyst developed by
Ma and co-workers could also be
useful for other aqueous-phase reforming
processes, such as those
involving bio waste or ethanol. n
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13

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Chemical Engineering May 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering May 2017