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The Rhenium solution

New catalyst for hydrogen production

Arun M. Isloor

Mass production of hydrogen has so far not been economical. A new catalyst may be the solution.

Scientists believe that hydrogen gas is probably the fuel of the future. It is cheaper than fossil fuel and environmentally friendly as it does not cause pollution. However, producing hydrogen in large quantities has so far not been economical. Scientists have considered various process. Breaking up water molecules to produce hydrogen gas is one idea. But this reaction requires very precise and extreme conditions to be maintained.

New experimental results suggest that a catalyst can be used to produce hydrogen from water. According to Prof. Mahdi Abu-Omar of Purdue University, USA the catalyst facilitates production of hydrogen without the need for extremely low temperatures or high pressures

The catalyst

The compound used by Omar and his colleagues is called a coordination complex based on the metal rhenium. The discovery came about when the researchers were carrying out a reaction to convert chemicals called organosilanes into silanes. They combined organosilanes and water in the presence of the rhenium complex at a particular temperature and pressure. They observed that, after an hour, the reaction yielded hydrogen gas in addition to silanes. According to the report published in the 'Journal of the American Chemical Society' this method generates a large amount of hydrogen from the water.

The question arises whether this technique will be economically viable for the creation of organosilane fuels in fuel cells.

According to Abu-Omar, the method is simple, but not very cheap. Organosilane, the starting material for this reaction is very expensive. But if the silicon byproduct could be sold or recycled efficiently, the new technique would be economically viable.

This result proves the initial premise, scientists say, but more test and scrutiny are required. Now Abu-Omar and his colleagues are working on making this project more cost effective.