Alumina-uranium catalyst

In a much earlier patent, the removal of organics from exhaust gases by oxidation over a supported uranium oxide catalyst was reported by Hofer and Anderson [39]. The catalyst was 4% U3O8 supported on alumina spheres. The authors used the incipient wetness technique to impregnate alumina with uranyl nitrate solution. In this case the catalyst precursors were calcined at 700°C for 3 h to decompose the uranium salt. The use of other uranium compounds as starting materials was mentioned and these included uranyl acetate, uranium ammonium carbonate and uranyl chloride. The alumina-supported catalyst had a surface area of ca 400m g and further added components, such as copper, chromium and iron, were highlighted as efficient additives to increase activity. 

Catalysts. The catalysts used were commercial cobalt molybdate and a laboratory-prepared depleted uranium catalyst. The cobalt molybdate consisted of cobalt and molybdenum oxides on 6- to 8-mesh alumina granules. The uranium catalyst consisted of 7.7% depleted uranium (uranium from which the U-235 has been removed) in the oxide form on 1/8-in. H-151 alumina balls. This catalyst had produced high gas yields in previous hydrogenation experiments with shale oil, and these results suggested its possible use as a hydrogasification catalyst. Both catalysts were maintained under a hydrogen atmosphere at approximate reaction temperature and pressure for about 12 hours before each experiment. 

Catalysts used for preparing amines from alcohols iaclude cobalt promoted with tirconium, lanthanum, cerium, or uranium (52) the metals and oxides of nickel, cobalt, and/or copper (53,54,56,60,61) metal oxides of antimony, tin, and manganese on alumina support (55) copper, nickel, and a metal belonging to the platinum group 8—10 (57) copper formate (58) nickel promoted with chromium and/or iron on alumina support (53,59) and cobalt, copper, and either iron, 2iac, or zirconium (62). 

Molybdenum In its pure form, without additions, it is the most efficient catalyst of all the easily obtainable and reducible substances, and it is less easily poisoned than iron. It catalyzes in another way than iron, insofar as it forms analytically easily detectable amounts of metal nitrides (about 9% nitrogen content) during its catalytic action, whereas iron does not form, under synthesis conditions, analytically detectable quantities of a nitride. In this respect, molybdenum resembles tungsten, manganese and uranium which all form nitrides during their operation, as ammonia catalysts. Molybdenum is clearly promoted by nickel, cobalt and iron, but not by oxides such as alumina. Alkali metals can act favorably on molybdenum, but oxides of the alkali metals are harmful. Efficiency, as pure molybdenum, 1.5%, promoted up to 4% ammonia. 

Strangely enough, a combination similar to the ammonia catalyst, iron oxide plus alumina, yielded particularly good results (32). Together with Ch. Beck, the author found that other combinations such as iron oxide with chromium oxide, zinc oxide with chromium oxide, lead oxide with uranium oxide, copper oxide with zirconium oxide, manganese oxide with chromium oxide, and similar multicomponent systems were quite effective catalysts for the same reaction (33). 

For a naphtha feedstock,. the catalyst is based on nickel deposited on calcium or magnesium silico-aluminate incorporating potasskun, or nkkel on an alumina support with uranium promoter. Nickel on calcium aluminate is generally used for post-combustion. 

The dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene is an important process used for styrene manufacture, and uranium oxide catalysts have been inveshgated for this reaction. A catalyst of uranium dioxide supported on alumina showed high selectivity to styrene of 96% at high conversion [62, 63]. The catalyst was synthesized as a higher oxide of uranium and inihally it was not UO2. Consequently, over the initial onstream period only carbon dioxide and water were observed, as the catalyst produced total oxidahon products. However, as the reachon proceeded the uranium oxide was reduced in situ by the ethylbenzene and hydrogen to form the active UO2 phase. It was only when the uranium oxide was fully reduced to UO2 that styrene was produced with high selectivity. 

Nicklin, with others, filed several early patents describing the use of uranium oxides as steam reforming catalysts [69], U3O8 was used along with nickel oxide as the basis of a steam reforming catalyst, and it was modified with potassium species (potassium hydroxide, potassium oxide and/or potassium carbonate), all supported on either alumina or a mix of alumina and magnesium oxide. The uranium and nickel catalysts proved to be extremely efficient for steam reforming. 

Eleuterio [57], using several heterogeneous catalysts formed from oxides of chromium, molybdenum, tungsten or uranium on alumina, titania or zirconia showed that norbornene polymerizes by ring opening with... 

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