Production of hydrogen by ammonia decomposition over supported Co3O4 catalysts

The barium hexaaluminate (BHA) supported Co3O4 catalysts (XCo/BHA) with varied mass loading of Co (X = 10%, 20%, 30%, 35% and 40%) were prepared by impregnating Co3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) onto BHA support that synthesized through urea combustion method. The catalyst was characterized by high-resolution trans-mission electron microscope (HRTEM), temperature programmed reduction (TPR), temperature programmed desorption (TPD) and valued the ammonia decomposition performance by fixed-bed reactor. The results showed that Co3O4 NPs were dispersed densely on the BHA surface, with the strong alkaline support that could adjust the binding energy of the active sites and the nitrogen, which was conducive to the ammonia decomposition reac-tion. Among the synthesized catalysts, 35Co/BHA achieves 87.2% ammonia conversion at 500 degrees C with a space velocity of 30000 ml gcat-1 h-1, corresponding to a hydrogen production rate of 29.2 mmol H2 gcat-1 min-1, and also shows excellent catalytic stability.

Automated summary

The Co3O4 nanoparticles were densely dispersed on the BHA surface, which showed excellent performance in catalyzing ammonia decomposition. Among the synthesized catalysts, 35% Co/BHA exhibited high ammonia conversion and hydrogen production rate at 500 degrees Celsius with good catalytic stability.