Hydrogen production from sonolysis of aqueous methanol solution

A novel method of hydrogen production from aqueous methanol solutions under low-frequency ultrasound was systematically studied under low frequency and the mechanism of production hydrogen was explained. The influence rules of parameters such as temperature, concentration, ultrasound amplitude etc. on H₂ yield and production rate were obtained. The results show that with increase of methanol concentration hydrogen yield increases initially and comes to a maximum at 10%(vol) then decreases. When the solution temperature increases from -5°C to 40°C, the hydrogen yields show a maximum at 10°C and a local decline at -5°C. With the increase of ultrasonic amplitude, the hydrogen production rate does not increase continually, because too great of amplitude may cause cavitation saturation phenomenon. The results obtained in this paper have an important significance for discussing the reaction mechanism of this hydrogen production method, and could be beneficial for optimizing reaction conditions.