Rapid Production of High-Purity Hydrogen Fuel through Microwave-Promoted Deep Catalytic Dehydrogenation of Liquid Alkanes with Abundant Metals

Abstract

Hydrogen as an energy carrier promises a sustainable energy revolution. However, one of the greatest challenges for any future hydrogen economy is the necessity for large scale hydrogen production not involving concurrent CO₂ production. The high intrinsic hydrogen content of liquid-range alkane hydrocarbons (including diesel) offers a potential route to CO₂ -free hydrogen production through their catalytic deep dehydrogenation. We report here a means of rapidly liberating high-purity hydrogen by microwave-promoted catalytic dehydrogenation of liquid alkanes using Fe and Ni particles supported on silicon carbide. A H₂ production selectivity from all evolved gases of some 98 %, is achieved with less than a fraction of a percent of adventitious CO and CO₂ . The major co-product is solid, elemental carbon.

Keywords: decarbonization; hydrogen production; iron; microwave catalysis; nickel.