Introduction Fuel cells, which produce electricity directly from hydrogen and oxygen, offer a clean and efficient potential alternative to internal combustion engines for generating power for portable and transportation applications. However, there currently is no infrastructure for the wide scale production and distribution of hydrogen to the transportation market. Instead of building new infr...

Producing both hydrogen and high-value carbon nanotubes (CNTs) derived from waste plastics is reported here using a pyrolysis-reforming technology comprising a two-stage reaction system, in the presence of steam and a Ni-Mn-Al catalyst. The waste plastics consisted of plastics from a motor oil container (MOC), commercial waste high density polyethylene (HDPE) and regranulated HDPE waste contain...

Introduction The steam reforming of alcohols, particularly methanol and ethanol, presents a promising method of producing hydrogen. Due to its high activity at relatively low temperatures, Pd/ZnO has received attention as a methanol steam reforming (MSR) catalyst to produce H2 at very high CO2 selectivity. 1 Pd supported on most other materials dehydrogenates methanol to CO. Similarly, Co catal...

The steam reforming of hydrocarbon fuels is a promising method for the production of hydrogen for portable electrical power sources. A suitable reactor for this application, however, must be compatible with temperatures above 800 degrees C to avoid coking of the catalytic structures during the reforming process. Here, ceramic microreactors comprising high surface area, tailored macroporous SiC ...

BACKGROUND Bio-jet fuels compatible with current aviation infrastructure are needed as an alternative to petroleum-based jet fuel to lower greenhouse gas emissions and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Cradle to grave life cycle analysis is used to investigate the global warming potential and fossil fuel use of converting poplar biomass to drop-in bio-jet fuel via a novel bioconversion platfor...

Due to the feasibility of ethanol production in the United States, ethanol has become more attractive as a fuel source and a possible energy carrier within the hydrogen economy. Ethanol can be stored easily in liquid form, and can be internally pre-formed prior to usage in low temperature (200 o C – 400 o C) solid acid and polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. However, complete electrochemic...

Hydrogen production through steam reforming of ethanol was investigated with conventional supported nickel catalysts and a Ni-containing smectite-derived catalyst. The former is initially active, but significant catalyst deactivation occurs during the reaction due to carbon deposition. Side reactions of the decomposition of CO and CH4 are the main reason for the catalyst deactivation, and these...