During lab-scale experiments on the reforming of methanol by means of
water at supercritical conditions (T > 374°C, p
> 22.1 MPa), a tubular reactor with a titanium liner was exposed to an
aqueous solvent containing methanol (5 wt%) and KHCO3 (0.3
wt%). At the end of the run, a fibrous precipitate was found at two
positions in the reactor. The material was studied in a field emission
scanning electron microscope equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray
analysis unit (FESEM/EDX). A thin-film support technique using
carbon-filmed TEM grids was applied to perform scanning transmission-type
imaging (STEM-in-SEM operation) and transmission current measurements. The
analysis of the hydrothermally grown fibers resulted in a potassium
titanate species composed of approximately K2TiO3,
which has been confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD).