Catalytic decomposition of ammonia into hydrogen and nitrogen products offers an alternative source of hydrogen storage to be used later in energy production. This process is important because it produces no CO or CO2 byproducts. In this study bulk and silica supported iron and cobalt catalysts were examined individually, then with cobalt on top of iron. Silica supported catalysts were prepared using Strong Electrostatic Adsorption for a small particle size, followed by Electroless Deposition to layer the cobalt only on the iron and not the support. The catalysts were examined using the Temporal Analysis of Product pulse response technique for their performance in ammonia decomposition. The cheaper cobalt-iron had similar ammonia conversion and hydrogen selectivity to those of an expensive cobalt catalyst. The silica supported iron had higher conversion and hydrogen selectivity compared to its bulk counterpart while other silica supported catalysts did not.
Key Words: COx free, hydrogen generation, Temporal Analysis of Products, ammonia decomposition |