(439a) Sustainable Generation of Hydrogen Using Aluminum-Water Reaction Activated By Room Temperature Liquid Metal Gallium

Hydrogen is one of the important non-conventional energy sources because of its high energy content and non-polluting nature of combustions. The on-demand hydrogen gas can be produced in controllable manner through aluminum-water reaction. In the present work, the green hydrogen gas was produced on-demand using aluminum-water reaction with zero carbon emission using scrap aluminum at the ambient conditions. The experimental results are very promising and potential to make it commercialized. The experimental investigations for generation of hydrogen through aluminum-water splitting reaction have been conducted in flow conditions. The aluminum used in reaction was activated by room temperature liquid metal gallium (RTLM-Ga). The contact time of scrap aluminum with RTLM-Ga was optimised for efficient evolution of hydrogen gas. The annular reactor was used for establishing the effect of flow rate of water on the hydrogen generation. The flow rates ranging from 0.5 to 10 mL/min were tested for generation of hydrogen. The yield of hydrogen generated is reported for various contact times of scrap aluminum with RTLM-Ga as well as each alkali concentration and flow rate. The increase in contact time of scrap aluminum with RTLM-Ga was observed to increase the yield and maximum hydrogen generation rate. Yield of hydrogen generated at all the considered concentrations and a flow rate was found to be greater than 98%. The maximum rate of hydrogen generation was observed as 14 mL/min at the flow rate of 10 mL/min of water and a contact time of 2 hr with RTLM-Ga. The used RTLM-Ga was completely recovered and reused again in the activation process of scarp aluminum. The recovered RTLM-Ga was found to exhibit similar activation characteristics as that of fresh RTLM-Ga.

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