http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2006/November/02110602.aspUS researchers have developed an efficient way of turning renewable resources like vegetable oils – and potentially biomass - into hydrogen-rich gas. The gas could be converted to synthetic fuels and industrial chemicals, or used in fuel cells.
The catalytic process avoids problems that had discouraged previous researchers - like an unwanted buildup of soot which would clog reactors and deactivate catalysts.
The scientists spray oil droplets onto a ceramic foam cylinder coated with a rhodium-cerium catalyst heated above 800°C. As the droplets hit the surface, high temperatures rip apart the oil’s triglyceride components into smaller vapourised compounds. These flow through the porous cylinder, together with injected oxygen, to become ‘synthesis gas’ (hydrogen and carbon monoxide). The rapid vapourisation leaves no time for droplets to be burnt to soot, while oxidising reactions generate enough energy to make the process self-heating.
From these oily beginnings, the researchers hope to extend their method to convert cellulose, starch, and lignin (from woody plants). ‘We hope that people will look at this reaction and think it might be a better way of using biomass,’ co-author Paul Dauenhauer told Chemistry World. The technology, he said, might be scaled up to larger systems, or could be run on small farms, avoiding transport costs. And the hydrogen produced could be used in fuel cells in a future ‘hydrogen economy’, or the rest of the gas might be transformed into synthetic fuels.
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