Investigation of the efficiency of hydrogen production from sodium borohydride hydrolysis with a novel biobased catalyst Bio-MOF

Abstract

The global scenario with increasing energy demand and depleting fossil fuel resources has propelled the exploration of renewable energy sources. Hydrogen energy, seen as a promising alternative, offers a clean and sustainable option for energy production. While electrolysis is a common method for hydrogen production, sodium borohydride (NaBH4) presents a unique pathway where hydrogen can be readily utilized in fuel cells without the need for electrolysis. The key component in hydrogen production from NaBH4 is the catalyst and noble metal catalysts with high catalytic activity are generally used. Despite their high catalytic activity, the application of noble metal catalysts in large-scale production of hydrogen is limited by their high cost, low abundance and environmental impact. In this study, efforts have been carried out to improvement alternative catalyst with lower cost and environmental friendly. For this purpose, succinic acid-based metal-organic framework catalyst has been synthesized. Bio-MOF is made from bio ligand from natural products as succinic acid (C4H6O4). The hydrothermal method using water as solvent is used for synthesis. The Bio-MOF catalyst was characterized by FT-IR, TGA, SEM, XRD, and BET analyzes. The surface area is calculated as 158.702 m2/g with pore volume of 0.2389 cm3/g from BET analysis. The amounts of catalyst (100-200 mg) and NaBH4 (50-400 mg) and various temperatures (30-70 degrees C) were optimized. The optimum reaction conditions were determined as 150 mg of catalyst amount, operation temperature of 60 degrees C and 400 mg NaBH4 of amount. The highest hydrogen production volume was found 300 mL under these conditions. The activation energy was calculated 79.67 kJ/ mol. These features make Bio-MOF an effective heterogeneous catalyst for H2 production from NaBH4.