Hydrogen Generation from Alkaline solutions of 15 ohm
Methanol and Ethanol by Electrolysis
10 ohm
Isılay Ulusoy
Department of Environmental Engineering Gebze 5 ohm
Institute of High Technology, 41400 Kocaeli/Turkey
0 ohm
Aytekin Uzunoglu, Ali Ata, Osman Ozturk
Department of Materials Science and Engineering Gebze
Institute of High Technology, 41400 Kocaeli/Turkey -5 ohm
0 ohm 10 ohm 20 ohm 30 ohm 40 ohm
Muhsin İder Zreal (ohm)
Chemical Engineering Department, Usak University
Figure 1. Platinum coated carbon paper EIS data of
64200 Usak/Turkey
methanol in 3M KOH solution for different temperatures.
References
Electro-oxidation of alcohol and other organic solutions
have been studied extensively as an alternative to steam 1. E. H. Yu, K. Scott, R. W. Reeve, “A study of anodic
reforming processes. However, the promising effect of oxidation of methanol on Pt in alkaline solutions”
alkalinity in lowering potentials of alcohol electrolysis Journal of Electro analytical Chemistry 547 (2003)
reactions can lead to carbon dioxide free hydrogen 17-24
production. 2. M. Umeda, H. Sugii, I. Uchida, “Alcohol
electrooxidation at Pt and Pt-Ru sputtered electrodes
In this study, it was aimed to investigate the effect of under elevated temperature and pressurized
temperature and pH of the solutions to the electrolysis conditions” Journal of Power Sources 179 (2008)
potentials of ethanol and methanol solutions. KOH was 489-496.
used as an alkaline electrolyte. Experimental studies were 3. F. Boccuzzi, A. Chiorino, M. Manzoli, “FTIR study
performed on actual electrolytic cells. Different catalysts of methanol decomposition on gold catalyst for fuel
were loaded on Nafion and PES (Polyethersulfone) cells” Journal of Power Sources 118 (2003) 304-310.
polymer membranes. Stainless steel anode and cathode 4. K. Matsuoka, Y. Iriyama, T. Abe, M. Matsuoka, Z.
electrodes were used. Catalyst loading procedures were Ogumi, “Electro-oxidation of methanol and ethylene
similar to fuel cell MEA preparations. glycol on platinum in alkaline solution: Poisoning
effects and product analysis” Electrochimica Acta, 51
Cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance (2005) 1085-1090.
spectroscopy measurements were performed on actual 5. T. Take, K. Tsurutani, M. Umeda, “Hydrogen
cells using Gamry Potentiostat. The best electrochemical Production by methanol water solution electrolysis ”
hydrogen production was observed for high KOH Journal of Power Sources 164 (2007) 9-16.
concentrations above 12M. The minimum electrolysis
potentials for different catalyst materials were also Acknowledgements
determined. This work was supported by the “Türkiye Bilimsel ve
Teknolojik Araştırma Kurumu (TUBİTAK)” with the
There were no CO2 emissions observed during high KOH project funding code number of 104T178.
concentration electrolysis experiments. Thermodynamic
Gibbs energy calculations suggested K2CO3 formation at
higher pH values. K2CO3 formation was proven by
analyzing the precipitate of the solution with barium
nitrate. The gas analysis showed that at the cathode pure
hydrogen was produced with only small concentrations of
impurities.
Different catalyst material combinations on anode and
cathode were tested for gas production. Fe-Cu-Cr-Ce-Pt,
Pt-Ce and platinum and platinum-ruthenium ink solutions
were applied either on polymer or carbon papers before
assembling the cells.
The best method for preparation of MEA for high
hydrogen production is found to be the catalyst loading of
carbon paper directly.
Our results indicate that the MEA preparation technique
has high influence on the hydrogen production rate
compared to the catalyst combinations used in alkaline
solutions.
