Experimental Validation of Earth Abundant Heterogeneous Catalysts Toward Sustainable Energy Conversion
Keywords:
Sustainable energy conversion, heterogeneous catalysts, hydrogen production, earth abundant elements, carbon depositionAbstract
Background: The clean energy sector needs hydrogen as its main energy carrier but
biomass-based hydrogen production faces obstacles because tar forms which damages catalysts
while decreasing system efficiency. The high catalytic activity of noble metal catalysts does not make
them suitable for industrial operations because of their expensive price and their tendency to form
coke deposits. Methods: Multiple heterogeneous catalysts, including Ni/Al₂O₃ and Ni/MgO and Fe
based and dolomite and alkali-promoted and noble metal catalysts, were tested experimentally in
this research. The fixed-bed reactor served as the experimental setup for hydrogen production and
tar cracking tests, which operated at elevated temperature levels. Gas chromatography was used to
measure hydrogen production and H₂/CO ratio and tar removal efficiency and carbon deposition
while conducting three separate experiments to prove their findings. Results: Noble metal catalysts
the maximum hydrogen at 64.5 vol.%, and Ni/Al₂O₃ followed with a 61.8 vol.% hydrogen yield are
produced. The tar removal process reached its peak efficiency with dolomite, which removed 93.8%
of tar while achieving minimal carbon buildup. The alkali-promoted catalysts showed the ability to
prevent coke development. Hydrogen production efficiency needed to be reduced when tar
cracking performance reached its highest level for every catalyst system. Conclusion: This study
shows that catalysts made from earth-abundant elements provide budget-friendly solutions that
match noble metal performance in durability. Sustainable hydrogen production systems require
combined or dual-catalyst approaches to attain their compulsory hydrogen yield and tar removal
and preserve functioning stability for protracted periodsle.
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