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Updated: May 8, 2026

Hydrogen Production and Utilization in a Membrane Reactor
Published on: March 10, 2023
Conversion rate of para-hydrogen to ortho-hydrogen by oxygen: implications for PHIP gas storage and utilization
1Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 8700 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, 90048, USA, wagners@cshs.org.
Object:
To determine the storability of para-hydrogen before reestablishment of the room temperature thermal equilibrium mixture.
Materials And Methods:
Para-hydrogen was produced at near 100% purity and mixed with different oxygen quantities to determine the rate of conversion to the thermal equilibrium mixture of 75: 25% (ortho: para) by detecting the ortho-hydrogen (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance using a 9.4 T imager.
Results:
The para-hydrogen to ortho-hydrogen velocity constant, k, near room temperature (292 K) was determined to be 8.27 ± 1.30 L/mol · min(-1). This value was calculated utilizing four different oxygen fractions.
Conclusions:
Para-hydrogen conversion to ortho-hydrogen by oxygen can be minimized for long term storage with judicious removal of oxygen contamination. Prior calculated velocity rates were confirmed demonstrating a dependence on only the oxygen concentration.
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