CO-tolerant RuNi/TiO2 catalyst for the storage and purification of crude hydrogen

Zhaohua Wang; Chunyang Dong; Xuan Tang; Xuetao Qin; Xingwu Liu; Mi Peng; Yao Xu; Chuqiao Song; Jie Zhang; Xuan Liang; Sheng Dai; Ding Ma

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-32100-x

CO-tolerant RuNi/TiO₂ catalyst for the storage and purification of crude hydrogen

Nat Commun. 2022 Jul 29;13(1):4404. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-32100-x.

Authors

Zhaohua Wang^#¹, Chunyang Dong^#^{1

2}, Xuan Tang^#³, Xuetao Qin¹, Xingwu Liu^{1

4}, Mi Peng¹, Yao Xu¹, Chuqiao Song¹, Jie Zhang¹, Xuan Liang¹, Sheng Dai⁵, Ding Ma⁶

Affiliations

¹ Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, P. R. China.
² UCCS-Unité de Catalyse et Chimie du Solide, Université de Lille, CNRS, Centrale Lille, ENSCL, Université d'Artois, UMR, 8181, Lille, France.
³ Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Joint International Research Laboratory of Precision Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Feringa Nobel Prize Scientist Joint Research Centre, Frontiers Science Center for Materiobiology and Dynamic Chemistry, Institute of Fine Chemicals, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science & Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China.
⁴ National Energy Center for Coal to Liquids, Synfuels CHINA Co., Ltd, Beijing, 101400, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Joint International Research Laboratory of Precision Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Feringa Nobel Prize Scientist Joint Research Centre, Frontiers Science Center for Materiobiology and Dynamic Chemistry, Institute of Fine Chemicals, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science & Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China. shengdai@ecust.edu.cn.
⁶ Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, P. R. China. dma@pku.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Hydrogen storage by means of catalytic hydrogenation of suitable organic substrates helps to elevate the volumetric density of hydrogen energy. In this regard, utilizing cheaper industrial crude hydrogen to fulfill the goal of hydrogen storage would show economic attraction. However, because CO impurities in crude hydrogen can easily deactivate metal active sites even in trace amounts such a process has not yet been realized. Here, we develop a robust RuNi/TiO₂ catalyst that enables the efficient hydrogenation of toluene to methyl-cyclohexane under simulated crude hydrogen feeds with 1000-5000 ppm CO impurity at around 180 °C under atmospheric pressure. We show that the co-localization of Ru and Ni species during reduction facilitated the formation of tightly coupled metallic Ru-Ni clusters. During the catalytic hydrogenation process, due to the distinct bonding properties, Ru and Ni served as the active sites for CO methanation and toluene hydrogenation respectively. Our work provides fresh insight into the effective utilization and purification of crude hydrogen for the future hydrogen economy.