Catalytic activity of Pt‐Re‐Pb/Al2O3 naphtha reforming catalysts

BACKGROUND: The main purpose of the naphtha reforming process is to obtain high octane naphtha, aromatic compounds and hydrogen. The catalysts are bifunctional in nature, having both acid and metal sites. The metal function is supplied by metal particles (Pt with other promoters like Re, Ge, Sn, etc.) deposited on the support. The influence of the addition of Pb to Pt‐Re/Al₂O₃ naphtha reforming catalysts was studied in this work. The catalysts were prepared by co‐impregnation and they were characterized by means of temperature programmed reduction, thermal programmed desorption of pyridine and several test reactions such as cyclohexane dehydrogenation, cyclopentane hydrogenolysis and n‐heptane reforming. RESULTS: It was found that Pb interacts strongly with the (Pt‐Re) active phase producing decay in the metal function activity. Hydrogenolysis is more affected than dehydrogenation. Part of the Pb is deposited over the support decreasing the acidity and the strength of the most acidic sites. CONCLUSION: The n‐heptane reforming reaction shows that Pb modifies the stability and selectivity of the Pt‐Re catalysts. Small Pb additions increase the stability and greatly improve the selectivity to C₇ isomers and aromatics while they decrease the formation of low value products such as methane and gases. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry     

SO42−/ZrO2 supported on γ‐Al2O3 as a catalyst for CO2 desorption from CO2‐loaded monoethanolamine solutions

In this work, the composite catalysts, SO₄²/ZrO₂/γ‐Al₂O₃ (SZA), with different ZrO₂ and γ‐Al₂O₃ mass ratios were prepared and used for the first time for the carbon dioxide (CO₂)‐loaded monoethanolamine (MEA) solvent regeneration process to reduce the heat duty. The regeneration characteristics with five catalysts (three SZA catalysts and two parent catalysts) of a 5 M MEA solution with an initial CO₂ loading of 0.5 mol CO₂/mol amine at 98°C were investigated in terms of CO₂ desorption performance and compared with those of a blank test. All the catalysts were characterized using X‐ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, N₂ adsorption–desorption experiment, ammonia temperature programmed desorption, and pyridine‐adsorption infrared spectroscopy. The results indicate that the SZA catalysts exhibited superior catalytic activity to the parent catalysts. A possible catalytic mechanism for the CO₂ desorption process over SZA catalyst was proposed. The results reveal that SZA1/1, which possesses the highest joint value of Brφnsted acid sites (BASs) and mesopore surface area (MSA), presented the highest catalytic performance, decreasing the heat duty by 36.9% as compared to the catalyst‐free run. The SZA1/1 catalyst shows the best catalytic performance as compared with the reported catalyst for this purpose. Moreover, the SZA catalyst has advantages of low cost, good cyclic stability, easy regeneration and has no effect on the CO₂ absorption performance of MEA. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 64: 3988–4001, 2018     

氧化铝载体对镍/氧化铝催化剂性能的影响

氧化铝是化工催化行业广泛应用的催化剂载体。油脂加氢催化剂主要是以氧化铝为载体、镍为主要活性组分的催化剂。在制备镍/氧化铝催化剂的过程中,载体氧化铝使用的最佳条件：载体在共沉淀反应前加入,载体氧化铝比表面积为340.6 m2/g,载体氧化铝加入量为m（镍）∶m（氧化铝）=5∶4,反应的老化时间为45 min。在此条件下,制备的镍/氧化铝催化剂活性最高,应用效果最好。     

Catalytic Oxidative Decomposition of Hydrazine in Vapor Phase over Nanosized Au/γ‐Al2O3

The catalytic activity of nanosized Au/γ‐Al₂O₃, synthesized by a deposition‐precipitation process, on oxidative decomposition of hydrazine in air is discussed. The catalyst exhibited an excellent activity at low temperatures. The activity was strongly dependent upon the gold cluster size. The impacts of certain pertinent operating parameters including the particle size of the catalyst, temperature, hydrazine concentration, and feed flow rate on the extent of the reaction were investigated. The results were reproducible with a mean absolute deviation of 3 %. Deactivation of the catalyst during the reaction was found to be unlikely. Finally, a kinetic model based on the Eley‐Rideal formulation was proposed for the reaction and a correlation was made between the data predicted from the model and those determined experimentally.     

Dry Reforming of Methane with a Ni/Al2O3‐YSZ Catalyst: The Role of the Catalyst Preparation Protocol

Many studies of Ni based ceramic supporting reforming catalysts are found in the literature. A synthesis of the reported results shows that their efficiency and durability are significantly affected by their fabrication protocol. This research has been aimed at evaluating how the conditions of 1) the ceramic support preparation and 2) the Ni deposition, through an impregnation‐drying‐calcination‐reduction protocol, affect the catalytic activity and the catalyst deactivation over time during methane dry reforming. The catalyst support used in this study was obtained by the mixing and pressing of alumina and YSZ (Yttria Stabilized Zirconia) powders, then calcining the mixtures at high temperature to form pellets of limited porosity (specific surface of 1.5‐10 m²/g), without inducing change to the crystalline phases. The results show that the surface density of the nickel particles, the catalyst activity, and its life span are highly dependent upon the catalyst preparation protocol. The initial nitrate solution concentration, the duration of the impregnation and the specific surface of the ceramic support have, all of them, a considerable influence on the size range of the deposited nickel particles. The surface density, the amount and the size of the latter highly affect the catalytic activity. It has been also shown that an increase in the ratio CH₄/CO₂ is detrimental to the catalytic activity of the tested formulations; a small excess of methane is enough to initiate the deactivation process of the catalyst very quickly for all of the composition tested in this study. A phenomenological deactivation kinetics model has been built and optimized. Although there are differences in deactivation rates among the different formulations tested, the model shows that the deactivation rate is highly dependent upon the reaction rate constant and that zero‐ and first‐order kinetics give statistically the same prediction error; the latter is always lower or equal to the experimental error.     

Preparation of Highly Active Nickel Catalysts Supported on Mesoporous Nanocrystalline γ‐Al2O3 for Methane Autothermal Reforming

Autothermal reforming (ATR) of methane was carried out over nanocrystalline Al₂O₃‐supported Ni catalysts with various Ni loadings. Mesoporous nanocrystalline γ‐Al₂O₃ powder with high specific surface area was prepared by the sol‐gel method and employed as support for the nickel catalysts. The prepared samples were characterized by X‐ray diffraction, Brunauer‐Emmett‐Teller, temperature‐programmed reduction, temperature‐programmed hydrogenation, and scanning electron microscopy techniques. It is demonstrated that the methane conversion increased with increasing in Ni content and that the catalyst with 25 wt % Ni exhibited the highest activity and a stable catalytic performance in the ATR process, with a low degree of carbon formation. Furthermore, the effects of the reaction temperature, the calcination temperature, the steam/CH₄ and O₂/CH₄ ratios, and the gas hourly space velocity on the catalytic performance of the 25 % Ni/Al₂O₃ catalyst were investigated.     

Catalytic Hydrocracking of a Bitumen‐Derived Asphaltene over NiMo/γ‐Al2O3 at Various Temperatures

Hydrocracking of a bitumen‐derived asphaltene over NiMo/γ‐Al₂O₃ was investigated in a microbatch reactor at varying temperatures. The molar kinetics of asphaltene cracking reaction was examined by fitting the experimental data. Below a defined temperature, the molar reaction showed the first‐order kinetic feature while at higher temperatures secondary reactions such as coke formation became significant, causing deviation of the reaction behavior from the proposed first‐order kinetic model. Selectivity analysis proved that dominant products varied from gases to liquids to gases with increasing temperature, shifting the dominant reaction from C–S bonds cleavage to C–C bonds cleavage.     

Influence of surface modification on the dispersion of nanoscale α‐Al2O3 particles in a thermoplastic polyurethane matrix

In this study, two types of nanoscale α‐Al₂O₃ particles were used for preparation of α‐Al₂O₃/thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) composites. These α‐Al₂O₃ particles were either coated or uncoated with stearic acid. For the uncoated α‐Al₂O₃/TPU composite, the results of field‐emission scanning electron microscopy (FE‐SEM) and energy dispersive X‐ray spectrometry indicate that uncoated α‐Al₂O₃ particles are significantly aggregated together. This aggregation is due to the poor compatibility between the inorganic filler (α‐Al₂O₃) and the organic matrix (TPU). The size of clusters is in the range from 5 to 20 μm. For the coated α‐Al₂O₃/TPU composite, FE‐SEM results indicate that most coated α‐Al₂O₃ particles are well dispersed in the TPU matrix. This phenomenon results from the effect of surface modifier (i.e., stearic acid) on α‐Al₂O₃ particles. Stearic acid can act as a compatibilizer to bridge the boundary between the TPU matrix and the α‐Al₂O₃ particle. Stearic acid is not only a suitable surface modifier for the nanoscale α‐Al₂O₃ particle, but also a good dispersant for the dispersion of nanoscale α‐Al₂O₃ particles in the TPU matrix. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Pd‐Ag/α‐Al2O3 Catalyst Deactivation in Acetylene Selective Hydrogenation Process

The selective hydrogenation of acetylene to ethylene over Pd‐Ag/α‐Al₂O₃ catalysts prepared by different impregnation/reduction methods was studied. The best catalytic performance was achieved with the sample prepared by sequential impregnation. A kinetic model based on first order in acetylene and 0.5th order in hydrogen for the main reaction and second‐order independent decay law for catalyst deactivation was used to fit the conversion time data and to obtain quantitative assessment of catalyst performances. Fair fits were observed from which the reaction and deactivation rate constants were evaluated. Coke deposition amounts showed a good correlation with catalyst deactivation rate constants, indicating that coke formation should be the main cause of catalyst deactivation.     

Separation of bovine serum albumin (BSA) using γ‐Al2O3–clay composite ultrafiltration membrane

BACKGROUND: Ceramic membranes have received more attention than polymeric membranes for the separation and purification of bio‐products owing to their superior chemical, mechanical and thermal properties. Commercially available ceramic membranes are too expensive. This could be overcome by fabricating membranes using low‐cost raw materials. The aim of this work is to fabricate a low‐cost γ‐Al₂O₃–clay composite membrane and evaluate its potential for the separation of bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a function of pH, feed concentration and applied pressure. To achieve this, the membrane support is prepared using low‐cost clay mixtures instead of very expensive alumina, zirconia and titania materials. The cost of the membrane can be further reduced by preparing a γ‐alumina surface layer on the clay support using boehmite sol synthesized from inexpensive aluminium chloride instead of expensive aluminium alkoxide using a dip‐coating technique. RESULTS: The pore size distribution of the γ‐Al₂O₃‐clay composite membrane varied from 5.4–13.6 nm. The membrane was prepared using stable boehmite sol of narrow particle size distribution and mean particle size 30.9 nm. Scanning electron microscopy confirmed that the surface of the γ‐Al₂O₃–clay composite membrane is defect‐free. The pure water permeability of the support and the composite membrane were found to be 4.838 × 10^?6 and 2.357 × 10^?7 m³ m^?2 s^?1 kPa^?1, respectively. The maximum rejection of BSA protein was found to be 95%. It was observed that the separation performance of the membrane in terms of flux and rejection strongly depends on the electrostatic interaction between the protein and charged membrane. CONCLUSION: The successively prepared γ‐Al₂O₃‐clay composite membrane proved to possess good potential for the separation of BSA with high yield and could be employed as a low cost alternate to expensive ceramic membranes. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry     

Steam gasification of a cellulose surrogate over a fluidizable Ni/α‐alumina catalyst: A kinetic model

Catalytic steam gasification of a cellulose surrogate using a fluidizable Ni/α‐alumina catalyst is presented. Experiments were carried out in the CREC fluidized riser simulator. On this basis, a reaction network and a kinetic model for biomass catalytic steam gasification were proposed. This kinetic model was developed using a sound reaction engineering approach where reaction rates for various species are the result of the algebraic addition of dominant reactions. The modeling procedure also included the decoupled determination of intrinsic kinetic parameters and adsorption constants as allowed in the CREC riser simulator. The implemented approach eliminates overparametrization with successfully parameter correlation. Numerical regression of the experimental data led to intrinsic kinetic parameters with narrow spans showing that the proposed kinetic model satisfactorily describe the catalytic conversion of glucose under the selected gasification conditions. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2012     

Methylcyclohexane dehydrogenation on Rh/γ-Al2O3 catalysts

The influence of the Rh loading on the surface properties and catalytic behaviour of Rh/γ-Al₂O₃ catalysts has been studied. The series of catalysts presents differences in metal dispersion, reducibility, surface composition and catalytic activity. All the data reported suggest that the differences in catalytic behaviour in the methylcyclohexane dehydrogenation reaction can be explained in terms of electron-deficient rhodium clusters, essentially when the metal particle size becomes smaller than 15 Å.     

Statistical Optimization of the Biodiesel Production Process Using a Magnetic Core‐Mesoporous Shell KOH/Fe3O4@γ‐Al2O3 Nanocatalyst

A magnetic core‐mesoporous shell KOH/Fe₃O₄@γ‐Al₂O₃ nanocatalyst was synthesized using the Fe₃O₄@γ‐Al₂O₃ core‐shell structure as support and KOH as active component. The prepared samples were characterized by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), field‐emission scanning electron microscopy (FE‐SEM), energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), Brunauer‐Emmett‐Teller (BET), and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) techniques. Transesterification of canola oil to methyl esters (biodiesel) in the presence of the magnetic core‐mesoporous shell KOH/Fe₃O₄@γ‐Al₂O₃ nanocatalyst was investigated. Response surface methodology (RSM) based on the Box‐Behnken design (BBD) was employed to optimize the influence of important operating variables on the yield of biodiesel. A biodiesel yield of 97.4 % was achieved under optimum reaction conditions. There was an excellent agreement between experimental and predicted results.     

Effect of hydrogen addition on formation of hydrogen and carbon from methane decomposition over Ni/Al2O3

The effects of hydrogen addition on the formation of hydrogen and carbon from methane decomposition over Ni/Al₂O₃ were studied. The results show that the added hydrogen in methane greatly affects the methane conversion, hydrogen output rate, and the properties of the carbon deposits on the surface of the Ni/Al₂O₃. The methane conversion and hydrogen output rate are significantly improved by the addition of hydrogen. As the flowrate of hydrogen increases from 0 to 25 mL/min, the initial activity of Ni/Al₂O₃ decreases sharply, while the stability increases first and then decreases due to the suppression of hydrogen to CH₄ decomposition in the thermodynamics equilibrium. When the addition flowrate of the hydrogen is 15 mL/min, that is, 37.5% of the methane flowrate, a much higher methane conversion and the best stability of Ni/Al₂O₃ are obtained. The addition of a specific amount of hydrogen benefits the methane decomposition; however, the excessive hydrogen will suppress the decomposition. Most of the carbon that deposits on the surface of Ni/Al₂O₃ is filamentous carbon when hydrogen is added to the methane, however, encapsulated carbon is mainly produced when no hydrogen is added. In addition, the formation of encapsulated carbon, which deactivates the catalyst, is inhibited by the added hydrogen.     

Structural elucidation and iron oxidation states in situ formed β‐Ca3(PO4)2/α‐Fe2O3 composites

A detailed structural analysis on the in situ synthesized β‐Ca₃(PO₄)₂/α‐Fe₂O₃ composites is demonstrated. Compositional ratios, the influence and occupancy of iron at the β‐Ca₃(PO₄)₂ lattice, oxidation state of iron in the composites are derived from analytical techniques involving XRD, FT‐IR, Raman, refinement of the powder X‐ray diffraction and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Iron exists in the Fe³⁺ state throughout the investigated systems and favors its occupancy at the Ca²⁺(5) site of β‐Ca₃(PO₄)₂ until critical limit, and thereafter crystallizes as α‐Fe₂O₃ at ambient conditions. Fe³⁺ occupancy at the β‐Ca₃(PO₄)₂ lattice yields a Ca₉Fe(PO₄)₇ structure that is isostructural with its counterpart. A strong rise in the soft ferromagnetic behavior of β‐Ca₃(PO₄)₂/α‐Fe₂O₃ composites is obvious that depends on the content of α‐Fe₂O₃ in the composites. Overall, the diverse level of iron inclusions at the calcium phosphate system with a Ca/P ratio of 1.5 yields a structurally stable β‐Ca₃(PO₄)₂/α‐Fe₂O₃ composites with assorted compositional ratios.     

氧化铝负载镍催化剂催化丙酮胺化选择性合成异丙胺

通过XRD、XRF和BET分析表征浙江省低碳脂肪胺工程技术研究中心提供的氧化铝负载镍催化剂a和催化剂b的结构,将催化剂用于催化丙酮胺化反应合成异丙胺,考察原料配比、反应温度、反应压力和丙酮空速对合成异丙胺反应的影响。结果表明,催化剂的比表面积和装填方式影响催化剂活性。丙酮胺化合成异丙胺的最佳合成条件为:反应压力(0.3~0.4)MPa,反应温度(383.15~393.15)K,n(丙酮)∶n(氨气)∶n(氢气)=1∶3∶(3~4),空速(0.30~0.35)h-1,在最佳条件下,异丙胺选择性100%,异丙胺产率最高达97.22%,催化剂连续使用4个月仍保持较好的催化活性。氧化铝负载镍催化剂上丙酮胺化反应机理主要是加成-消除-还原反应机理,而还原-取代反应机理是次要形式。