New hydrogen production method created

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- U.S. chemists at Ohio State University say they have developed a catalyst that can very efficiently convert ethanol and other biofuels into hydrogen.

Ohio State Professor Umit Ozkan said the new catalyst makes hydrogen from ethanol with 90 percent yield, at a workable temperature and using inexpensive ingredients since it doesn't contain precious metals, such as platinum or rhodium.

"Rhodium is used most often for this kind of catalyst and it costs around $9,000 an ounce," Ozkan said. "Our catalyst costs around $9 a kilogram."

She said the newly developed catalyst could help make the use of hydrogen-powered cars more practical in the future.

"Our research lends itself to what's called a 'distributed production' strategy. Instead of making hydrogen from biofuel at a centralized facility and transporting it to gas stations, we could use our catalyst inside reactors that are actually located at the gas stations," said Ozkan. "So we wouldn't have to transport or store the hydrogen -- we could store the biofuel, and make hydrogen on the spot."

Ozkan and doctoral students Hua Song and Lingzhi Zhang presented the research last week in Philadelphia during a meeting of the American Chemical Society.