A further step toward H2 in automobile: development of an efficient bi-functional catalyst for single stage water gas shift

The suitability of polymer electrolyte fuel (PEM) cells for stationary and vehicular applications initiated research in all areas of fuel processor (i.e. reformer, water-gas-shift, preferential oxidation of CO (PROX)) catalysts for hydrogen generation. Water gas shift (WGS) reaction is an essential part of these processors because of its role in CO purification, which poisons the Pt electrodes of PEM, and its role in generating additional hydrogen. The WGS reaction is well established in conventional large steady-state operations, such as ammonia plants, but it has found new purpose and challenges to fit the requirements for energy power generation through fuel cell. More active catalysts are necessary as large volumes of shift reactors are usually required which would be responsible for about 50% of the volume of the whole fuel processor. Therefore, replacing the conventionally two stages WGS, i.e. the high temperature shift and the low temperature shift, with a single stage WGS shift seems to be promising for reducing the total volume of fuel processor. In this dissertation, a development of active, selective, and stable single stage water-gas-shift (WGS) catalyst for H2 production for fuel cell applications has been investigated. Such efficient catalysts could be used in a H2 selective catalytic membrane reactor in order to overcome thermodynamic limitations when temperature is chosen relatively high for improving reaction rate.