Adelino F. Cunha

Progress on sorption-enhanced reaction process for hydrogen production

Abstract Concerns about the environment and fossil fuel depletion led to the concept of “hydrogen economy”, where hydrogen is used as an energy carrier. Nowadays, hydrogen is mostly produced from fossil fuel resources by natural gas reforming, coal gasification, as well as the water-gas-shift (WGS) reaction involved in these processes. Alternatively, bioethanol, glucose, glycerol, bio-oil, and other renewable biomass-derived feedstocks can also be employed for hydrogen production via steam reforming process. The combination of steam reforming and/or WGS reaction with in situ CO2 adsorption is able to enhance the reaction above the thermodynamic equilibrium to produce more hydrogen, which is known as sorption-enhanced reaction process (SERP). In this review, research on thermodynamic studies, material developments, adsorptive reactor investigations, and cyclic operating process design for hydrogen production by SERP in recent decades has been surveyed and future research on these emerging areas has been discussed.

Simultaneous Elimination of Pyrophoricity and Enhancement of Activity of Raney Nickel by Carbon Deposition: Synthesis of Highly Active NiC Catalysts

Nickel‐carbon composite materials (NiC catalysts) are synthesized by decomposing methane over Raney‐type skeletal nickel catalysts. The NiC catalysts are evaluated in the hydrogenation of cyclooctene, cyclooctadiene, nitrobenzene, and para‐chloronitrobenzene. Characterization by scanning electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction, and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveals that the catalysts consist of nickel in its metallic form with superficial oxide layers, carbon, and aluminum oxide/hydroxide. The catalysts exhibited excellent hydrogenation activity, superior to the parent Raney nickel.