Highly Efficient Hydrogen Generation from a Formic Acid/Triethanolamine System Using a Pd-Based Catalyst and Correlation for Apparent Activation Energy Estimation

In this study, formic acid (FA)–amine mixtures are investigated as a new hybrid dehydrogenation system over a Pd/sepiolite catalyst synthesized via the efficient impregnation method with an initial turnover frequency of up to 1719 h^–1 at room temperature. The characterization results and gas evolution results demonstrate the strong synergistic effect between amine molecules and amine-modified sepiolite. The dissociation constant and oil/water distribution coefficient of the monoamine can directly determine the promoting performance of an amine. In addition, the apparent activation energy of the FA–amine system is much lower than that of the amine-free system. Kinetics correlations of apparent activation energy for the prediction of the monoamine promoting performance were developed and the ability to make accurate predictions was demonstrated, with an average absolute deviation of 1.15%. The equation holds great significance for facilitating the application of amines as they are a clean and low-cost additive.