Ni/La2O3 and Ni/MgO–La2O3 catalysts for the decomposition of NH3 into hydrogen

Abstract The decomposition of NH3 for hydrogen production was studied using Ni/La2O3 catalysts at varying compositions and temperatures prepared via surfactant-templated synthesis to elucidate the influence of catalyst active metal content, support composition and calcination temperature on the catalytic activity. The catalytic performance of all samples was studied between 300 and 600 °C under atmospheric pressure. The catalytic activity of the sample were as follows: 10Ni/La2O3-450 > 10Ni/La2O3-550 > 10Ni/La2O3-650 ≈ 10Ni/La2O3-750 ≈ 10Ni/La2O3-850. The excellent activity (100%) of 10Ni/La2O3-450 could be due to the high surface area, basicity strength and concentration of surface oxygen species of the catalyst as evidenced by BET, CO2-TPD and XPS. In addition, to adjust the activity of the catalyst support, the molar ratios of Mg and La were varied (1:1, 3:1, 5:1, 7:1 and 9:1). The 5Ni/5MgLa (5:1 M ratio) was found to be the most active (100%) relative to other Ni/MgLa formulations. Furthermore, the Ni content in the Ni/5MgLa sample was adjusted between 10 and 40 wt%. Increasing the Ni content of the catalysts increased NH3 conversion with the 40 wt% Ni formulation demonstrating complete NH3 conversion at 600 °C and a high gas hourly space velocities (GHSV) (30,000 mL∙h−1∙gcat−1).