Dehydrogenation of methylcyclohexane over Pt/V2O5 and Pt/Y2O3 for hydrogen delivery applications

Dehydrogenation of methylcyclohexane (MCH) for hydrogen transportation and delivery application was carried out over 3 wt% Pt/V₂O₅ and 3 wt% Pt/Y₂O₃ catalyst. The catalytic activity was tested using a spray-pulse mode of reactor. Effective dehydrogenation of MCH under spray-pulse mode of reactant injection was observed. In terms of hydrogen evolution rate at 60 min from start of reaction the activity of 958 mmol/g/min was obtained at temperature of 350 °C. Nearly 100% selectivity toward hydrogen was obtained. A relatively high conversion of 98% was observed with 3 wt% Pt/Y₂O₃ at 60 min using an advanced spray-pulse reactor system. The catalysts were characterized using x-ray diffraction pattern (XRD), CO-chemisorption metal analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis.