Hydrogen production from sonolysis of alcohol solution

The removal of organic waste in water can be coupled with producing hydrogen by ultrasonic treatment. An experimental setup was designed and constructed to investigate sonolysis of alcohol solution. Methanol, ethanol and propanol solutions were tested and decomposed to hydrogen under low-frequency ultrasound (40 kHz, 500 W). The effects of solution concentration, temperature, pH and addition of NaCl on hydrogen production/rate are studied. The results show that with rise of alcohol concentration rate of hydrogen production increases initially and then decreases. The augmentation of solution temperature can make position of the rate peak of hydrogen production shift from the point having greater concentration to that lower one. The addition of NaCl can make the hydrogen yield goes up. By contrast, there is no significant effect of solution pH on the rate. These results obtained in this paper could be used for optimum of the operation parameters in hydrogen production system from organic waste in water.