Catalyst and process development for hydrogen preparation from future fuel cell feedstocks. Quarterly report, April 1-June 30, 1980. [Pt/Pd]

Phase II of the contract, which involved catalyst preparation and evaluation, was nearly completed this quarter. Phase III, which calls for the design and construction of a fuel processor, was started. During the quarter, four types of tests were run on the small scale catalyst screening unit. The operating line for coke-free operations was found to be approximately between 0.41 to 0.44 O/sub 2//C level. Screening at lower O/sub 2//C levels led to problems with plugging. In other tests, increased severity for screening steam reforming catalysts was obtained by doubling the space velocity. Another series of tests were run to determine the gas composition from the catalytic partial oxidation (CPO) section and to evaluate two CPO catalysts. In the other series of tests, catalysts were aged for about 20 hours using a propane, steam, and air mixture before testing with No. 2 oil for another five hours. This latter test has been used to study Pt/Rh catalysts made with various supports. Differences were readily determined for Pt/Rh supported on alpha alumina and Pt/Rh supported on stabilized alumina. This test method will find continued use in evaluating metal-support interactions. Several samples must be evaluated by this method before aging runs aremore » made in the larger unit. After leaching alumina from a used Pt/Rh catalyst, the x-ray diffraction pattern showed the presence of a Pt-Rh alloy in the metal residue. Experiments were run to show that the alloy was formed in the reactor during testing and not during catalyst preparation. A larger version of the ATR reactor has been designed and major components are on order. Completion of the construction phase is scheduled for the next quarter.« less