Advanced Catalysts for the Water Gas Shift Reaction

The WGS reaction is an exothermic reaction between carbon monoxide and steam to form carbon dioxide and hydrogen. This reaction, which has been used industrially for more than 100 years, has recently received a great deal of attention from researchers as one of the ways to produce environmentally acceptable hydrogen from fossil fuels in large quantities. For the application of this reaction on an industrial scale, the key is choosing the optimal catalysts that can ensure high CO conversion and have a long lifetime under industrial conditions. Therefore, new types of catalysts are being developed that meet these requirements better than the Fe- and Cu-based catalysts commonly used in the past. The WGSR on a commercial nickel-based catalyst and a laboratory-prepared copper- and cobalt-based catalyst was tested in a laboratory apparatus set up at the University of Chemistry and Technology Prague. The best performance of the laboratory-prepared catalyst was observed for the catalyst with a Cu content of 14.8 wt% and activated in a hydrogen atmosphere. The laboratory-prepared Co-based catalyst showed good WGSR activity in the temperature range of 200-450 degrees C, although this was always inferior to that of the Cu-based catalyst. When subjected to the feed gas containing 0.4 mole% H2S, the Co-based catalyst showed good resistance to sulphur poisoning. Therefore, Co-based catalysts can be considered good sulphur-tolerant intermediate temperature WGSR catalysts.

Automated summary

The WGS reaction is a exothermic reaction used industrially for over a hundred years, now receiving attention as a way to produce environmentally acceptable hydrogen. Optimal catalysts are key for industrial scale applications, with new types being developed to improve on commonly used Fe- and Cu-based catalysts. Lab tests show that Cu-based catalysts perform well in a certain temperature range, while Co-based catalysts show good resistance to sulfur.