The Development of a Novel Catalyst for Hydrogen Production from Methanol Steam Reforming
The shortage of energy is becoming an important problem for mankind and the research of renewable energy has emerged rapidly to solve this problem. One interesting renewable energy is the energy from hydrogen fuel cells. Therefore, one of the most important issues to be considered for the hydrogen fuel cell is effective hydrogen production. Hydrogen could be produced from reforming reactions of hydrocarbons such as methane, methanol, ethanol, dimethyl ether, etc. This research focuses on methanol reforming to produce hydrogen for fuel cells from the steam reforming reaction. Unfortunately, the process still requires a huge amount of energy in order to produce a high yield of hydrogen. This is a major drawback of hydrogen production from the reforming reaction. The objective of this research is to study the performance of various catalysts from different preparation methods to identify the proper catalyst for methanol reforming. The optimization of the catalytic reactor design and reaction conditions are also investigated to enhance the reaction system for effective hydrogen production from methanol reforming.
Carbon Dioxide Capture by Immobilized Amine over Solid Sorbents
The high performance of amine solid sorbents could provide the alternative for CO2 capture from power plant flue gases. The concept is to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from a simulated flue gas system by a tubular reactor using immobilized amine species on different solid sorbent support (activated carbon, zeolites, agriculture product waste) at ambient conditions. The concepts of the material preparation are high performance of CO2 capture, cost effectiveness, and easy handling for various applications. The preliminary design of a scaled up plant for the CO2capture from solid sorbents is also considered in the study.
Photocatalysis
CO2 emission has become a worldwide problem due to its potential impact on global warming. Photocatalytic reactions, which involve the combined use of photo energy and catalysts to convert reactants to products, provide a promising alternative to reduce CO2 and convert it into useful hydrocarbon products (e.g., methane and methanol).