Catalyst surface chemistry properties

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. 

The development of new and improved catalysts requires advances in our understanding of how to make catalysts with specified properties the relationships between surface stracture, composition, and catalytic performance the dynamics of chemical reactions occurring at a catalyst surface the deployment of catalytic surface within supporting microstracture and the dynamics of transport to and from that surface. Research opportmuties for chemical engineers are evident in four areas catalyst synthesis, characterization of surface stracture, surface chemistry, and design. 

Acid-base reactivity is an important property of oxide catalysts, and its control is of interest in surface chemistry as well as being of importance in industrial applications. The exposed cations and anions on oxide surfaces have long been described as acid-base pairs. The polar planes of ZnO showed dissociative adsorption and subsequent decomposition of methanol and formic acid related with their surface acid-base properties[3]. Further examples related to the topic of acid-base properties have been accumulated to date[ 1,4-6]. 

The physicochemical properties of Schiff-base complexes encapsulated in zeolite70 and the surface chemistry of zeolite-encapsulated CoSalen and [Fe(bpy)3]2+ catalysts were studied and published.71... 

Besides the 29Si and 27 A1 NMR studies of zeolites mentioned above, other nuclei such as H, 13C, nO, 23Na, 31P, and 51V have been used to study physical chemistry properties such as solid acidity and defect sites in specific catalysts [123,124], 129Xe NMR has also been applied for the characterization of pore sizes, pore shapes, and cation distributions in zeolites [125,126], Finally, less common but also possible is the study of adsorbates with NMR. For instance, the interactions between solid acid surfaces and probe molecules such as pyridine, ammonia, and P(CH3)3 have been investigated by 13C, 15N, and 31P NMR [124], In situ 13C MAS NMR has also been adopted to follow the chemistry of reactants, intermediates, and products on solid catalysts [127,128],... 

In this chapter, we have discussed the application of metal oxides as catalysts. Metal oxides display a wide range of properties, from metallic to semiconductor to insulator. Because of the compositional variability and more localized electronic structures than metals, the presence of defects (such as comers, kinks, steps, and coordinatively unsaturated sites) play a very important role in oxide surface chemistry and hence in catalysis. As described, the catalytic reactions also depend on the surface crystallographic structure. The catalytic properties of the oxide surfaces can be explained in terms of Lewis acidity and basicity. The electronegative oxygen atoms accumulate electrons and act as Lewis bases while the metal cations act as Lewis acids. The important applications of metal oxides as catalysts are in processes such as selective oxidation, hydrogenation, oxidative dehydrogenation, and dehydrochlorination and destructive adsorption of chlorocarbons. 

Somorjai, G.A. Salmeron, M. (1986) Surface properties of catalysts. Iron and its oxides. Surface chemistry, photochemistry and catalysis. In Pelizzetti, E. Serpone, N. (eds.) Homogeneous and heterogeneous photocatalysis. D. Reidel Publ. Co., Doordrecht, The Netherlands, NATO ASI Series C, 174 445-478... 

In most studies of surface chemistry, it is common practice to devote a small fraction of the total effort to the preparation of the surface and then much effort to an elaborate measurement of rates and other surface properties. Obviously, the measurement is no better than the preparation of the surface, and if the surface is contaminated, strained, or has an unknown crystal orientation, the measurements can have very little meaning. Furthermore, since metals as ordinarily used consist of minute crystals randomly arranged, measurements made on such specimens are composite quantities and tell little about the reactivity of a particular type of structure. It is therefore highly important that the preparation of the catalyst specimen be carried out with great care, and this is generally a tedious undertaking. 

Catalyst Formulation Catalyst Synthesis Surface Chemistry Support Effects Anode Kinetics Cathode Kinetics Reaction Mechanism Membrane Synthesis Membrane Transport Properties Theory Modeling... 

The effective diffusivity Dn decreases rapidly as carbon number increases. The readsorption rate constant kr n depends on the intrinsic chemistry of the catalytic site and on experimental conditions but not on chain size. The rest of the equation contains only structural catalyst properties pellet size (L), porosity (e), active site density (0), and pore radius (Rp). High values of the Damkohler number lead to transport-enhanced a-olefin readsorption and chain initiation. The structural parameters in the Damkohler number account for two phenomena that control the extent of an intrapellet secondary reaction the intrapellet residence time of a-olefins and the number of readsorption sites (0) that they encounter as they diffuse through a catalyst particle. For example, high site densities can compensate for low catalyst surface areas, small pellets, and large pores by increasing the probability of readsorption even at short residence times. This is the case, for example, for unsupported Ru, Co, and Fe powders. 

Deo, G., Wachs, l.E. and Haber, J. (1994) Supported vanadium oxide catalysts. Molecular structural characterization and reactivity properties. Critical Reviews in Surface Chemistry, 4 (3 4), 141-87. 

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