Alkali-promoted metal oxide catalysts

The Institute of Gas Technology recently patented a boron/alkali metal- promoted, metal oxide catalyst for oxidative coupling of methane. The catalytic studies were performed between 700 and 820 °C. The best activity (21%) and selectivity (86%) were achieved using 1% Li/0.2% B promoted on MgO. 

Alkalis are the most important electropositive promoters of metal and metal oxide catalysts. They are used in many important industrial catalysts but are also quite suitable for fundamental studies since they can be easily introduced under vacuum conditions on well-characterized model metal surfaces. 

But how ubiquitous actually are alkalis in the promotion of reactions catalyzed at metal surfaces An examination of recent authoritative sources [6,7] shows that the majority of medium-to large-scale processes do not employ alkali promoters, even when one includes nonmetallic (i.e., metal oxide) catalysts. In a number of cases (e.g., steam reforming of naphtha) it seems clear that the role of alkali is simply to reduce the acidity of the oxide support. There are famous cases, of course, where the presence of alkali species on the catalytically active metal surface is critically important to the chemistry. Notable are ethene epoxidation (Ag-Cs), ammonia synthesis (Fe-K), acetoxylation of ethene to vinyl acetate (Pd, Pd/Au-K), and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (Fe, Co, Ru-K). The first three are major industrial... 

Iron oxides and the alkali surface area (Sk). Alkali metal and alkali earth metal oxides such as K2O, CaO, MgO etc. are common electron-type promoters for fused iron catalysts. The surface area measured by the selective chemisorption of CO2 at 194.8 K can be considered to be the total surface area of the basic oxides in... 

Promoters. Many industrial catalysts contain promoters, commonly chemical promoters. A chemical promoter is used in a small amount and influences the surface chemistry. Alkali metals are often used as chemical promoters, for example, in ammonia synthesis catalysts, ethylene oxide catalysts, and Fischer-Tropsch catalysts (55). They may be used in as Httie as parts per million quantities. The mechanisms of their action are usually not well understood. In contrast, seldom-used textural promoters, also called stmctural promoters, are used in massive amounts and affect the physical properties of the catalyst. These are used in ammonia synthesis catalysts. 

Ethylene is currently converted to ethylene oxide with a selectivity of more than 80% under commercial conditions. Typical operating conditions are temperatures in the range 470 to 600 K with total pressures of 1 to 3 Mpa. In order to attain high selectivity to ethylene oxide (>80%), alkali promoters (e.g Rb or Cs) are added to the silver catalyst and ppm levels of chlorinated hydrocarbons (moderators) are added to the gas phase. Recently the addition of Re to the metal and of ppm levels of NOx to the gas phase has been found to further enhance the selectivity to ethylene oxide. 

This simple concept has already found some practical applications The idea to use supported alkali-promoted noble metal catalysts for NO reduction,3,4 even under mildly oxidizing conditions,5 came as a direct consequence of electrochemical promotion studies utilizing both YSZ (Chapter 8) and p"-Al203 (Chapter 9), which showed clearly the electrophi-licity of the NO reduction reaction even in presence of coadsorbed O. This dictated the use of a judiciously chosen alkali promoter coverage to enhance both the rate and selectivity under realistic operating conditions on conventional supported catalysts. 

Supported Rhodium Catalysts Alkali Promoters on Metal Surfaces Cobalt-Molybdenum Sulfide Hydrodesulfurization Catalysts Chromium Oxide Polymerization Catalysts... 

Osmium This metal had already been found by Haber to be an excellent ammonia catalyst. Its activity is further increased by alkali metal oxides, especially by potassium hydroxide. As the pure metal 2% ammonia, promoted, 4%. 

Pure decarbonylation typically employs noble metal catalysts. Carbon supported palladium, in particular, is highly elfective for furan and CO formation.Typically, alkali carbonates are added as promoters for the palladium catalyst.The decarbonylation reaction can be carried out at reflux conditions in pure furfural (165 °C), which achieves continuous removal of CO and furan from the reactor. However, a continuous flow system at 159-162 °C gave the highest activity of 36 kg furan per gram of palladium with potassium carbonate added as promoter. In oxidative decarbonylation, gaseous furfural and steam is passed over a catalyst at high temperatures (300 00 °C). Typical catalysts are zinc-iron chromite or zinc-manganese chromite catalyst and furfural can be obtained in yields of... 

LOW TEMPERATURE OXIDATION OF CARBON MONOXIDE OVER ALKALI-METAL PROMOTED PALLADIUM-TIN OXIDE CATALYSTS... 

Keywords alkali-metal promotion tin dioxide catalysts CO oxidation temperature-programmed characterization... 

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