Concomitant Production of Hydrogen, Sodium Acetate, and Polymerized Species from Non-Catalytic Ethanol Dehydrogenation

A detailed study of the production of hydrogen and high added-value liquid products from the ethanol dehydrogenation reaction in the presence of sodium hydroxide (10% m m(-1)) was undertaken. Experiments were carried out in a batch reactor under different reaction conditions (temperature of 240 degrees C and autogenous pressure between 45 and 72 bar), with analysis of the products obtained in the gas, liquid and solid fractions. The results showed that hydrogen was the major product formed in the gaseous fraction (maximum of 86.9%), while sodium acetate was the product in the solid fraction. Studies of the reaction mechanisms confirmed formation of the products identified in the gaseous and solid fractions. Mass spectrometry analyses of the liquid fractions revealed the presence of a series of compounds with molecular masses considerably higher than that of ethanol, which could be explained by the favoring of anionic polymerization reactions, under the experimental conditions employed.