Catalytic hydrolysis of alkaline sodium borohydride solution for hydrogen evolution in a micro‐scale fluidized bed reactor

An investigation was conducted into the generation of hydrogen from catalytic hydrolysis of alkaline sodium borohydride solution in a micro-scale fluidized bed. In this work, the Cobalt loaded on walnut shell activated carbon was applied as the catalyst. The impact of NaBH4 concentration, the diameter of catalyst particle, the rate of reaction fluid flow, and the temperature of initial reaction fluid on the process of hydrogen generation was explored, and the optimum reaction conditions were determined. It was found out that the maximum length of stable hydrogen generation (58.46% of the total reaction time) is obtainable under the following conditions. The concentration of NaBH4 is 2 wt%, the flow rate is 3.00 × 10−3 m·s−1, and the flow temperature is 25°C. In addition, a comparison was performed between the batch reactor and micro-fluidized bed reactor during the process of hydrogen generation. Moreover, when the concentration of NaBH4 reached 1 and 2 wt%, the efficiency and stability of the micro-fluidized bed reactor were identified as superior to those of the batch reactor.