The promotion of Argon and water molecule on direct synthesis of H 2 O 2 from H 2 and O 2

Direct synthesis of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) from H 2 and O 2 is an ideal route. H 2 /O 2 plasma has a great potential for direct synthesis of high purity H 2 O 2 without purification operations. However, low yield and high energy consumption limits the application of H 2 /O 2 plasma in industry. This article reports that gas state Ar and H 2 O molecule serving as molecular catalysts promoted the synthesis of H 2 O 2 from H 2 /O 2 /Ar/H 2 O plasma dramatically: the H 2 O 2 yield was enhanced by 244% and the energy consumption was reduced by 70.9%. Ar not only increased the electron density, but also selectively accelerated the dissociation of H 2 toward the formation of •HO 2 , a key intermediate species in H 2 O 2 synthesis. While H 2 O facilitated the formation of •HO 2 radical and stabilized it by forming a HO 2 •H 2 O complex, resulting in enhancing the H 2 O 2 production. This single molecular catalysis reduced the cost of H 2 O 2 synthesis more than 50%. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J , 64: 981–992, 2018