Ethanol Catalytic Cracking Of Single-walled Carbon Nanotubes And The Collaborative Production Of Hydrogen

The primary utilization of ethanol was producing hydrogen and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) through decomposition. In this work, ethanol decomposition was investigated to prepare hydrogen and CNTs under the catalysis of Fe/MgO, Fe-Mo/MgO, Fe-Co/MgO and Ni-Mo/MgO that are made by the impregnation. The object is to study the effects of the composition of catalyst and reaction temperature on ethanol decomposition. The results are evaluated by the performance of hydrogen production and the quality of CNTs. The composition of gaseous product was monitored by GC(Gas Chromatograph), while the solid product was tested by XRD, SEM, TEM, Raman, TG and BET. Meanwhile, the mechanism of ethanol decomposition was studied by TEM technical means. Finally, the working force between catalyst and carrier as well as the effect of hydrogen product on the growth of CNTs were further explored.The results indicate that for the Fe-Mo/MgO catalysts, the Fe-Mo (10 mol%, Fe:Mo=5:1)/MgO was the optimal one with a ethanol conversion of 91%, a hydrogen yield of 97% and a nanotubes yield of 200%. Moreover, all the nanotubes were single-walled CNTs with the tube diameter ranges in 0.6 to 1.2 nm. Considering the hydrogen production and the quality of nanotubes, the best reaction temperature for Fe-Co/MgO catalysts is 800℃. The Fe-Co (10 mol%, Fe:Co=9:1)/MgO was suggested to be the most effective while the productivity of hydrogen and nanotubes were 92% and 285%, respectively. The produced nanotubes were multi-walled CNTs (20 layers) with an inside diameter (ID) of 5 nm and an outside diameter (OD) of 18 nm. The best component for Ni-Mo catalysts was Ni-Mo (10 mol%, Ni:Mo=5:1)/MgO which can obtain a hydrogen yield of 95%, a multi-walled CNTs yield of 385.6% and the ID is 8 nm and the OD is 17 nm.