Reaction Condition Effects on the Photocatalytic Production of H-2 from Ethanol in the Gas Phase over Pt/TiO2

Abstract

The effects of reaction parameters on H-2 production from ethanol photocatalysis in the gas phase have been investigated. The photocatalytic activity evolves from an early mass-transfer limited regime to an independent one at later irradiation times, which is interpreted in terms of a photocatalytic site activity distribution. Ethanol molar fraction exhibits two different domains, with H-2 production increasing up to a molar fraction of 0.12, beyond which it plateaus. H-2:AcH ratios are very sensitive to reaction conditions, reaching 1.8 at low reactant flows. UV light is converted to H-2 with an efficiency of nearly 3 %.