(532dc) Sulfur-Trioxide Decomposition over ?–SiC Foam Supported CuFe2O4 in the Sulfur-Iodine Cycle

Sulfur–Iodine (S–I) cycle is one of the efficient and eco–friendly thermochemical methods for hydrogen production. SO₃ decomposition is the most endothermic step in the S–I cycle. The development of a catalytic system to achieve high activity and stability is a major challenge for the SO₃ decomposition due to high temperature and corrosive environment of the reaction. CuFe₂O₄ catalyst supported over β–SiC foam is synthesized using wet impregnation method followed by high temperature solid state route. The prepared catalyst is characterized using various techniques such as XRD, FTIR, BET, FESEM, TEM and HR-TEM. The synthesized catalyst is activity tested at atmospheric condition in the temperature range of 800–900 ˚C and at 8.1 h^-1 WHSV.

Figure 1 shows (a, b) FESEM, (c, d) TEM, (e) SAED, (f) HR-TEM, (g) Lattice fringes of CuFe₂O₄/β–SiC Foam. CuFe₂O₄ particles were well dispersed on the β–SiC Foam as shown in FESEM and TEM images. The concentric rings in the selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern showed the nanocrystalline nature of the CuFe₂O₄/β–SiC Foam. The rings indexed to the planes of tetragonal CuFe₂O₄ (PDF– 34-0425). The magnified view of the selected portion of the HR–TEM image showed the lattice fringes of CuFe₂O₄/β–SiC Foam, the interplanar distance was found to be 0.25 nm corresponded to the (211) plane of tetragonal CuFe₂O₄. The activity of the catalyst approached equilibrium conversion with increase in temperature. Issues such as low catalytic activity, pressure drop and temperature gradient can be tackled with the synthesized catalyst because foam structure of a support is considered to have high heat transfer due to its interconnected structure and low pressure drop as compared to pellet form in a packed bed reactor.