Production of hydrogen and chemicals from the electroreforming of alcohols

The exploitation of hydrogen in fuel cells is considered the ideal solution for an energetically and environmentally sustainable future for transportation. An essential part of such a solution will be the use of renewable energy in conjunction with water electrolysis to provide a "zero emission" source of H2. Water electrolysis is a well established technology but its diffusion is limited by high energy costs. The standard reaction potential for water electrolysis is 1.23 V, meaning that water splitting is a strongly energy intensive process. Replacing anodic oxygen evolution with the oxidation of much more readily oxidizable species leads to a significant reduction of the potential required to produce hydrogen. Such processes have been demonstrated in the past using methanol, ethanol and ammonia. Up till now the current densities obtained have been too low to have practical use. Here we demonstrate that electrochemical reforming can occur at current densities comparable to that of state of the art water electrolysis and define the energy cost break-even point, at which electrochemical reforming becomes more energy efficient than water electrolysis [1]. We also show that the nature of the anode catalyst can be tuned to produce from alcohols valuable partial oxidation products.