Recombination of hydrogen-air catalyzed by Pt/C catalyst in a confined vessel at ambient temperature

Abstract Most of the previous studies have investigated the detonation and combustion characteristics of hydrogen and air mixtures, but the change process of hydrogen-air recombination reaction at ambient temperature is unclear. In this study, the variation of temperature and hydrogen conversion during the H2-air mixture reaction catalyzed by Pt/C catalyst was examined. Experiments were carried out in a small-scale cylindrical vessel to investigate the effects of hydrogen volume fraction, catalyst mass, and inlet gas flow rate on the reaction process. The results revealed that the reaction temperature climbed as the hydrogen volume fraction increased, with a peak value achieved when the hydrogen volume fraction reached 35 vol%, and subsequently reduced as the hydrogen volume fraction increased further. The increase of the inlet gas flow rate also promoted the growth of reaction temperature. However, there was no significant linear relationship between the rise of catalyst mass and the change of reaction temperature.