Hydrogen oxidation over alumina-supported palladium–nickel catalysts

In nuclear power plants, the concentration of hydrogen generated during the reaction of water with the zircaloy is diminished using the passive autocatalytic recombiners. Pd–Ni/Al\(_{2}\)O\(_{3}\) catalysts were tested in the recombination reaction and compared with the results for Pd/Al\(_{2}\)O\(_{3}\) and Pt/Al\(_{2}\)O\(_{3}\) catalysts. The catalytic reaction was performed in the flowing system under atmospheric pressure with a mixture of 0.5 % H\(_{2}\)-air in the stream in dry and wet conditions. The bimetallic, nickel-containing low-priced catalysts revealed a little lower activity than the high-priced Pd/Al\(_{2}\)O\(_{3}\), but their activity per active metal is promising. The lower atomic percentage of palladium in the active Pd–Ni phase resulted in higher turnover frequencies. Small amounts of water in the reaction mixture greatly decreased the catalytic performance but simple drying of the reaction mixture eliminated this effect.