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Abstract: Concerns about the depletion of fossil fuel reserves and the pollution caused by continuously increasing energy demands make hydrogen an attractive alternative energy source. Hydrogen is currently derived from nonrenewable natural gas and petroleum, but could in principle be generated from renewable resources such as biomass-derived oxygenated compounds such as ethylene glycol, glycerol, sugars and sugar alcohols or water. Chemical and biological engineers report the discovery of a nickel-tin-aluminium (Raney-NiSn) catalyst that can replace the precious metal platinum in a new, environmentally sustainable, greenhouse-gas-neutral, low-temperature, economically viable process yielding fewer contaminants for making hydrogen fuel. Using this catalyst in a single reactor aqueous phase reforming (APR) process, it is possible to generate hydrogen at temperatures near 500 K from biomass instead of 1175 K required with usual processes. This method takes advantage of the unique thermodynamic properties of these oxygenated compounds that allow complete reaction of these compounds with water to H2 and CO2. At these conditions, APR process generates hydrogen without the need to volatilize water, which represents a major energy saving compared to conventional, vapor-phase, steam-reforming processes utilizing non-renewable hydrocarbons. The APR process can be used not only on the small scale to produce fuel for portable devices, but it could also be scaled up as a hydrogen source for industrial applications.
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