Optimal experimental conditions for hydrogen production using low voltage electrooxidation of organic wastewater feedstock.

The dependence of electrooxidn. on exptl. conditions of org. mols. was investigated to optimize the prodn. of hydrogen from potential wastewater sources using low voltage sources (∼1 V dc). Electrooxidn. on platinum, gold, and stainless steel anodes with hydrogen prodn. on the cathode was investigated using several different org. reductants, including: methanol, ethanol, glycerol, isopropanol, propanal, glycerol, glucose, sucrose, citric acid, and propionic acid. The electrolyte pH was varied from 2 to 12 in a 1 M Na2SO4 supporting soln. At 1 V, glycerol, citric acid, ethanol and methanol were found to yield the highest currents at low pH values (pH 2 and 7) on platinum electrode, glucose on gold electrode at pH 12 in 1 M Na2SO4 soln. produced the highest total c.d. at 1 V with measured Faradaic efficiency for 1 M glucose of 70%. The hydrogen energy prodn. efficiency was 86%. Practical limitations of glucose oxidn. at optimum exptl. conditions are discussed. [on SciFinder(R)]