Sodium Borohydride Methanolysis in the Presence of a Carbon Supported Co-B Catalysts Produced from Agricultural Waste

In this study, Co-B catalyst was synthesized by using activated carbon obtained from Siirt pistachio shell, which is an agricultural waste, and this catalyst was used in hydrogen production process. Siirt pistachio is one of the most important agricultural income sources of Siirt region. After processing pistachio, the remaining pistachio shell is considered as agricultural waste, and the efficient use of this waste is of great importance. Activated carbon supported Co-B catalyst was used in the reduction of NaBH4. In order to define the kinetics of the catalyst, different NaBH4 concentrations, catalyst concentrations and temperatures were studied. In the methanolysis experiments using the same NaBH4 concentration at 30 °C with different catalyst amounts, the completion time of the reaction was shortened as the amount of catalyst increased, and the rate of hydrogen production was observed to be increasing. In the presence of activated carbon-supported Co-B catalyst, when different temperature (30-60 oC) activities of methanolysis experiments were examined, it was observed that the reaction rate increased significantly with increasing temperature. It was found that agricultural waste can be efficiently used to produce support material for the production of high capacity catalysts. Finally, the reaction pattern was extracted using the data from the results of this experiment, whereby an empirical formula was derived, and the result of the future experiments can theoretically be obtained with this equation. As a result of this study, Siirt pistachio shell, considered as agricultural waste, is effectively processed and converted into a product with high added value