Water-Gas Shift Reaction: Advances and Industrial Applications

As a stand-alone reaction, it is an important industrial reaction used in the manufacture of ammonia, to balance the H2/CO ratio, and provide pure H2 at the expense of CO. It is also an important side reaction that occurs in parallel to the main synthesis reactions in conjunction with steam reforming of methane (over Ni-based catalysts), and methanol synthesis from CO/CO2/ H2 mixtures (over Cu/ZnO/Al2O3) [1-4]. The WGSR is also a critical component in reducing CO concentrations from feed gas streams in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC). The Pt electrodes are highly susceptible to CO poisoning to levels as low as 1ppm [5,6].