Production of hydrogen by hydrolysis of Mg chips

Hydrogen was produced by a hydrolysis reaction of Mg chips generated in cutting process. The reaction of Mg chips with pure water produced a little volume of hydrogen, but NaCl solution drastically improves the reaction. Hydrogen produced in NaCl solution increases with NaCl content and 750 ml of hydrogen per gram of Mg was obtained in NaCl solution with 2 M after 300 min, corresponding to the conversion yield of 80%. A decrease in size of Mg chip and an increase in volume of NaCl solution also improve the hydrogen production performance. After reaction in NaCl solution, formation of Mg(OH)2 was observed and MgCl2 was not found. This means that the amount of NaCl does not change during the reaction. The NaCl solution after the reaction can be reused for the production of hydrogen by adding Mg and H2O.