The United States of America As Represented by the Department of Energy

Uthamalinga Balachandran

Arun C Bose

An apparatus and method for decomposing NH . A fluid containing NH is passed in contact with a tubular membrane that is a homogeneous mixture of a ceramic and a first metal, with the ceramic being selected from one or more of a cerate having the formula of M&prime;Ce M&Prime; , zirconates having the formula M&prime;Zr M&Prime;O , stannates having the formula M&prime;Sn M&prime;O , where M&prime; is a group IIA metal, M&Prime; is a dopant metal of one or more of Ca, Y, Yb, In, Nd, Gd or mixtures thereof and &dgr; is a variable depending on the concentration of dopant and is in the range of from 0.001 to 0.5, the first metal is a group VIII or group IB element selected from the group consisting of Pt, Ag, Pd, Fe, Co, Cr, Mn, V, Ni, Au, Cu, Rh, Ru and mixtures thereof. The tubular membrane has a catalytic metal on the side thereof in contact with the fluid containing NH which is effective to cause NH to decompose to N and H . When the H contacts the membrane H ions are formed which pass through the membrane driving the NH decomposition toward completion.

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Hinsdale, IL, United States of America

Uthamalinga Balachandran