Hydrogen production by aluminum corrosion in aqueous hydrochloric acid solution promoted by sodium molybdate dihydrate

Recycled aluminum alloys corrosion system was studied for hydrogen production in 1.4 M HCl solution at low temperature, 333 K. Molybdate ions were used as corrosion promoter. Commercial Na2MoO4·2H2O was tested, varying its concentration (0–0.036 M) in order to analyze the promoter effect in H2 production. Moreover, Na2MoO4·2H2O particles were synthesized via sonochemical method and by ultrasonic method. Later, synthesized promoters were tested in order to analyze the effect of their physicochemical properties in H2 production. Gas composition produced during the reaction was analyzed by gas chromatography. Results showed that reaction rate was notorious affected by molybdate ions concentration. The highest hydrogen volume and the greatest reaction rate obtained was with the use of 1050 aluminum foil alloy with very low promotor concentration (0.004 M), becoming, therefore, a low-cost process for high purity hydrogen production.