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Hydrogen Production from Aqueous Solutions of Urea with Ruthenium‐based Catalysts
Author(s) -
Furukawa Shinya,
Suzuki Ryohei,
Ochi Kazuyoshi,
Yashima Tatsuaki,
Komatsu Takayuki
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
chemsuschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.412
H-Index - 157
eISSN - 1864-564X
pISSN - 1864-5631
DOI - 10.1002/cssc.201500112
Subject(s) - catalysis , ruthenium , aqueous solution , chemistry , urea , yield (engineering) , hydrogen production , hydrolysis , decomposition , hydrogen , transition metal , inorganic chemistry , organic chemistry , materials science , metallurgy
An efficient catalytic system for hydrogen production from aqueous solution of urea was developed using ruthenium‐based catalysts as an alternative for existing systems based on several H 2 carriers. Ru/SiO 2 showed the highest H 2 yield among various SiO 2 ‐supported transition‐metal catalysts. Optimization of the catalyst support revealed that Ru/Al 2 O 3 exhibited the best catalytic performance, with a minimum amount of CO formed as a by‐product (1.8 mol %). A mechanistic study suggested that the reaction proceeds mainly via two steps: urea hydrolysis (H 2 NCONH 2 +H 2 O→2 NH 3 +CO 2 ) followed by NH 3 decomposition (2 NH 3 →3 H 2 +N 2 ).