Development of continuous measurement system for hydrogen and impurity gases using detector tube

A relatively accurate, inexpensive, simple, and continuous quantification system for hydrogen and impurity gas(es) using a detector tube was developed in this study. Additionally, different detector tubes can be applied to measure different types of gases in a wide range from ppm order to % level. We optimized this system and evaluated its accuracy as well as the behavior of released H2 and impurity (NH3) gases from a hydrolysis of ammonia borane using a Pt/Al2O3 catalyst. The accuracy of hydrogen quantitation achieved by this system was comparable to that of commercial mass flow meters, and the accuracy of ammonia quantitation was 10% or 5% relative standard deviation, which depends on the detector tube. The concentration of released NH3 was evaluated by image analysis with a time-lapse video of the detector tube and succeeded in analyzing from ppm to % order. The H2 and NH3 release behaviors agreed with pH, and the percentage of reaction was estimated by NMR measurement of the reacted solution. These results confirmed the accuracy of this system.