Investigation into Hydrogen Production in Hydrolysis of Sodium Borohydride in the Presence of Co-La-B Catalyst

The hydrolysis reaction of sodium borohydride (NaBH4) can generate highly pure hydrogen. In this paper, the Co-La-B catalyst is prepared using the simple chemical reduction method. Its catalytic reactivity is studied for different NaBH4 concentrations, NaOH concentrations, the catalyst amounts and the reacting temperatures. For both NaBH4 concentration and NaOH concentration, the hydrogen generation rate climbs to the peak when they stay around 8 wt.%. The hydrogen generation rate can also be promoted by increasing the catalyst amount and raising the reacting temperature. Structural characterizations of the catalysts are performed from SEM and XRD photos. The value of activation energy for the hydrogen generation process is calculated to be 42.33 kJ/mol and it compares favorably with some other previously reported values.