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Insights into the stability of the iron oxide immobilized into mesoporous silica catalysts in iodine–sulfur cycle for hydrogen production

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Abstract

In this work, iron oxide nanoparticles were immobilized inside a mesoporous silica shell, forming core–shell structures through wet impregnation and sol–gel methods. The catalytic activity of these nanoparticles was investigated in a continuous packed bed laboratory flow reactor in the temperature range of 1000 to 1173 K at 8.1 h−1 WHSV (weight hour space velocity). Further, the long-term thermal stability was tested at 1173 K at 8.1 h−1 WHSV up to 100 h time-on-stream run. Among all the synthesized catalysts, iron oxide nanoparticles immobilized inside a mesoporous silica shell (FSCS) showed the highest activity and was remain active for more than 100 h with ~ 82% conversion at 1123 K. The calculated activation energy of this catalyst was found to be 127.39 kJ/mol. The performance results on the FSCS showed negligible agglomeration and metal loss (< 4%), thus enabling them to be a potential catalyst in this high-temperature endothermic reaction in the continuous industrial-scale hydrogen production plant.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to ONGC, Energy Center Trust (OECT) India for financial support and the Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Delhi, Hauz Khas New Delhi for facilitating the project (FT/11/123/2022). SP acknowledges DST and SERB, Government of India for Prime Minister's Doctoral Research Fellowship.

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  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, 110016, India

    Shailesh Pathak & Sreedevi Upadhyayula

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Pathak, S., Upadhyayula, S. Insights into the stability of the iron oxide immobilized into mesoporous silica catalysts in iodine–sulfur cycle for hydrogen production. Reac Kinet Mech Cat 136, 2977–2996 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11144-023-02488-8

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