skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


Title: Sulfur Tolerant Subnanometer Fe/Alumina Catalysts for Propane Dehydrogenation
A series of Al2O3-supported Fe-containing catalysts were synthesized by incipient wetness impregnation. The iron surface density was varied from 1 to 13 Fe atoms/nm2 spanning sub- and above-monolayer coverage. The resulting supported Fe-catalysts were characterized with N2 physisorption, ex situ XRD, PDF, XAS, AC-STEM and chemically probed by H2-TPR. The results suggest that over this entire range of loadings, Fe was present as dispersed species, with only a very small fraction of Fe2O3 aggregates, at the highest Fe loading. The in situ sulfidation of Fe/Al2O3 resulted in the formation of a highly active and selective PDH catalyst. The highest activity with 52% propane conversion and ~99% propylene selectivity at 560 °C was obtained for the 6.4 Fe/Al2O3 catalyst suggesting that this is the highest amount of Fe that could be fully dispersed on the support in sulfided form. XRD and AC-STEM indicated the absence of any crystalline iron sulfide aggregates after sulfidation and reaction. H2-TPR results indicated that the amount of the reducible Fe sites in the sulfided catalyst remained constant above monolayer coverage, and increasing loading did not increase the number of reducible Fe sites. Consistent with these results, the reactivity per gram of catalyst showed no increase with Fe loading above monolayer coverage, suggesting that additional Fe remains conformal to the alumina surface.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1828731
PAR ID:
10297575
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
ACS Applied Nano Materials
ISSN:
2574-0970
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; ; ; (, Catalysis Today)
    Tungsten based catalysts supported on silica (zWOX/SiO2) and silica promoted by titania (zWOX/yTiOX/SiO2) were studied for their catalytic activity towards propylene metathesis. The catalysts were prepared by a simple incipient wetness impregnation method using a large pore SiO2 of intermediate surface area (∼50 m2/g). Catalytic activity studies carried out in a fixed-bed reactor (723 K, 101 kPa propylene) indicated that propylene conversion increased with increasing W loading in zWOx/SiO2 catalysts (z = 0.5−6 W/nm2). It was shown that the catalytic activity of a poorly WOX dispersed 6WOX/SiO2 catalyst could be enhanced and maximized by an optimum titania promotion of 2 wt% TiO2 (∼3 Ti/nm2). In situ differential diffuse reflectance (DDR) UV-Vis spectroscopy at reaction conditions showed that TiOX domain size increased with increases in titania loading from isolated TiOX to TiOX clusters to TiO2 nanocrystals. The UV-Vis results also evidenced the existence of highly dispersed isolated WOX species, WOX clusters, and WO3 nanoparticles in the 6WOX/yTiOX/SiO2 (y = 0.5−6 wt% TiO2 or ∼0.7–9 Ti/nm2) catalysts. In situ DDR-UV-Vis, Raman, and mass spectrometry during propylene metathesis, and catalyst oxidation and reduction revealed the reasons for an optimum amount of titania promoter in 6WOX/2TiOX/SiO2. They were the result of a balanced interplay between two factors: (1) enhanced WOx species dispersion due to the presence of a trimeric TiOX cluster and (2) absence of catalyst deactivation (present at high TiO2 loadings) due to the trimeric TiOX cluster poor reactivity towards coke formation. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; et al (, Angewandte Chemie International Edition)
    Abstract Atomically dispersed and nitrogen coordinated single metal sites (M‐N‐C, M=Fe, Co, Ni, Mn) are the popular platinum group‐metal (PGM)‐free catalysts for many electrochemical reactions. Traditional wet‐chemistry catalyst synthesis often requires complex procedures with unsatisfied reproducibility and scalability. Here, we report a facile chemical vapor deposition (CVD) strategy to synthesize the promising M‐N‐C catalysts. The deposition of gaseous 2‐methylimidazole onto M‐doped ZnO substrates, followed by an in situ thermal activation, effectively generated single metal sites well dispersed into porous carbon. In particular, an optimal CVD‐derived Fe‐N‐C catalyst exclusively contains atomically dispersed FeN4sites with increased Fe loading relative to other catalysts from wet‐chemistry synthesis. The catalyst exhibited outstanding oxygen‐reduction activity in acidic electrolytes, which was further studied in proton‐exchange membrane fuel cells with encouraging performance. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ; ; ; (, Catalysts)
    Previous studies have shown that fats, oils, and greases (FOG) can be deoxygenated to fuel-like hydrocarbons over inexpensive alumina-supported Ni catalysts promoted with Cu or Fe to afford excellent yields of renewable diesel (RD). In this study, supports other than alumina—namely, SiO2-Al2O3, Ce0.8Pr0.2O2, and ZrO2—were investigated to develop catalysts showing improved RD yields and resistance to coke-induced deactivation relative to Al2O3-supported catalysts. Results showed that catalysts supported on Ce0.8Pr0.2O2 and ZrO2 outperformed SiO2-Al2O3-supported formulations, with 20%Ni-5%Fe/ZrO2 affording a quantitative yield of diesel-like hydrocarbons. Notably, the abundance of weak acid sites varied considerably across the different supports, and a moderate concentration of these sites corresponded with the best results. Additionally, temperature-programmed reduction measurements revealed that Ni reduction is greatly dependent on both the identity of the promoter and catalyst support, which can also be invoked to explain catalyst performance since metallic Ni is identified as the likely active site for the deoxygenation reaction. It was also observed that Ce0.8Pr0.2O2 provides high oxygen storage capacity and oxygen mobility/accessibility, which also improves catalyst activity. 
    more » « less
  4. ; ; ; ; ; (, System)
    The effects of adding Mn and Na promoter metals to graphene oxide (GO)-supported iron-based catalysts for Ficher-Tropsch Synthesis (FTS) reactions to olefins at 20 bars were investigated in a 3D-printed stainless steel (SS) Microreactor. While promoter metals encourage reduction of iron oxide to iron to form iron carbide, the active metal catalysts in GO allow hydrogenation of CO. These catalysts were synthesized by layer deposition method and characterized by different techniques. The TEM images show the integration of graphene oxide into the catalysts. The XRD and XPS studies confirmed the crystal structure and oxidation states of the metals. The catalytic activity and product selectivity were studied in the temperature range of 200–350°Cwith a 2:1 M ratio of H2: CO. Higher CO conversion with greater selectivity for olefins was observed in the presence of the promoters. FeMnNa@GO showed better stability than both Fe@GO and FeMn@GO catalysts in time-on-stream studies. 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; ; (, Catalysts)
    Fischer–Tropsch (FT) synthesis was carried out in a 3D printed stainless steel (SS) microchannel microreactor using bimetallic Co-Ru catalysts on three different mesoporous silica supports. CoRu-MCM-41, CoRu-SBA-15, and CoRu-KIT-6 were synthesized using a one-pot hydrothermal method and characterized by Brunner–Emmett–Teller (BET), temperature programmed reduction (TPR), SEM-EDX, TEM, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques. The mesoporous catalysts show the long-range ordered structure as supported by BET and low-angle XRD studies. The TPR profiles of metal oxides with H2 varied significantly depending on the support. These catalysts were coated inside the microchannels using polyvinyl alcohol and kinetic performance was evaluated at three different temperatures, in the low-temperature FT regime (210–270 °C), at different Weight Hourly Space Velocity (WHSV) in the range of 3.15–25.2 kgcat.h/kmol using a syngas ratio of H2/CO = 2. The mesoporous supports have a significant effect on the FT kinetics and stability of the catalyst. The kinetic models (FT-3, FT-6), based on the Langmuir–Hinshelwood mechanism, were found to be statistically and physically relevant for FT synthesis using CoRu-MCM-41 and CoRu-KIT-6. The kinetic model equation (FT-2), derived using Eley–Rideal mechanism, is found to be relevant for CoRu-SBA-15 in the SS microchannel microreactor. CoRu-KIT-6 was found to be 2.5 times more active than Co-Ru-MCM-41 and slightly more active than CoRu-SBA-15, based on activation energy calculations. CoRu-KIT-6 was ~3 and ~1.5 times more stable than CoRu-SBA-15 and CoRu-MCM-41, respectively, based on CO conversion in the deactivation studies. Keywords: Fischer-Tropsch synthesis; mesoporous silica based catalysts; kinetic studies; 3-D printed microchannel microreactor 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email