The generalisation of the use of hydrogen as a fuel, although very promising, is currently limited mainly because of storage problems.^[1] We have developed a continuous hydrogen generation process under pressure using formic acid as hydrogen storage material.^[2] The formic acid is decomposed into H₂ and CO₂ in aqueous solution using a homogeneous transition metal catalyst.

HCOOH → H₂ + CO₂

The hydrogen production exhibits very good robustness and efficient hydrogen generation from formic acid. Formic acid has previously been proposed as hydrogen storage material, although up to now applications were limited by rather extreme reaction conditions, catalyst regeneration requirements, and lack of selectivity. These limitations have been overcome by the proposed process. 

We are grateful to Swiss National Science Foundation and COST D30 (WG001) for financial support.

1. L. Schlapbach, A. Züttel, Nature, 414, 353 (2001).

2. C. Fellay, P. J. Dyson, G. Laurenczy, European patent application filed (2006).

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1. Utilization of CO₂
2. New classical and non-classical hydrides of Ru(II) in aqueous solution