A novel cost-effective catalyst from orange peel waste protonated with phosphoric acid for hydrogen generation from methanolysis of NaBH4

Abstract

In this study, orange peel (OP), one of the organic wastes, was first used as a metal-free catalyst for the production of hydrogen from sodium boron hydride (NaBH4). In order to prepare an orange peel catalyst (OP-H3PO4-Cat) with the best catalytic activity, experiments were carried out on pure orange peel with different acid types, different burning temperatures and different burning times. As a result of these experiments, it was determined that OP-H3PO4-Cat treated with 30% H3PO4 and burned at 400 degrees C for 45 min had the best catalytic activity. The OP-H3PO4-Cat material was characterised by several techniques such as FTIR, XRD and SEM. As a result, the hydrogen generation rates (HGR) at 30 degrees C and 60 degrees C in the methanolysis reaction of 2.5% NaBH4 catalysed by OP-H3PO4-Cat were found as 45,244 and 61,892 mLmin(-1)g.cat(-1), respectively. The activation energy of OP-H3PO4-Cat catalyst was calculated as 12.47 kJmol(-1). (C) 2021 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.