Catalyst testing program

It is important to define the objective of the envisioned catalyst testing program before starting the experiments. During preliminary screening, many catalysts are... 

The ultimate objective of a catalyst testing program is to evaluate the catalyst for performance in a commercial process (5). The challenge then becomes to generate... 

Reaction conditions 0.1 g of the zeolite Y modified catalyst, tested in a conventional glass microreactor with racemic butan-2-ol (7.35 x 10" mol h-1), prevaporized in a nitrogen diluent (6.2 -6.7 x 10" mol h-1). Products were analyzed using on-line GC with a 40m capillary y- cyclodextrin colimm with trifluoroacetyl stationary phase, temperature programmed from 25-70 "C with a split ratio of 120 1. 

However, these stringent new requirements created a need to accelerate the development of specifically targeted catalysts. Ashland decided to initiate its own catalyst preparation program, coupled with installation and development of advanced testing equipment, to speed the evolution of advanced catalysts. 

Pruning T-gjal Application. The commercial test showed outstanding benefits. Comparison of information from the heavy oil cracker for several months before and after passivation of the metals on the catalyst demonstrated long term, trouble-free application of metals passivation technology. Passivation of the metals on the catalyst with antimony improved catalyst selectivity to gasoline, and reduced production of gas and coke. Many details of the test program and the demonstrated benefits achieved have been reported (2, 6-8) Commercial benefits of metals passivation were similar to the benefits predicted from research and development information. 

Pt-Re Sulfided and chlorided, A1203 support Coking allowed, and coke characterized by temp-programmed oxidation. Also catalyst testing. 

The results of this study showed that flash pyrolysis subbituminous coal tar can be hydrorefined. Ni-Mo supported on alumina was the most effective catalyst for hydrorefining flash pyrolysis subbituminous coal tar among the five types of catalysts tested. The removal of asphaltenes and preasphaltenes was easy to achieve. Catalyst selection should emphasize heteroatoms removal efficiency and hydrogen consumption. The catalyst life is an equally important selection criterion although this program has not completed catalyst-life studies. It will be determined in the future. 

Example 3. In attempting to make meaningful selectivity comparisons between FCC catalysts using pilot unit test data, the testing program must be carefully designed. Several specific criteria must be met ... 

In an effort to understand hew the petroleum industry addresses the problem of fresh FOC catalyst evaluation, a survey of testing philosophies from 15 companies was conducted. The objective was to identify the merits of various steaming procedures as well as catalyst testing. The results of the survey shew that each laboratory has a unique testing program, with wide differences being practiced in both steam deactivation and Micro Activity (MAT)... 

To evaluate interlaboratory reproducibility, a round robin testing program was initiated. A 0.6 cm diameter spherical alumina base was supplied by Phillips Petroleum Company for this round robin test. The bulk density of as-received material was determined by ASTM D4180 and the loss of weight after a 2 hour heat treatment at 400°C was used to calculate the amount of dried catalyst base to be charged to the test cell. The variation in catalyst base loaded to the cell for all laboratories participating was less than 1.8%. 

Following completion of the bench scale test program, an engineering contractor conducted a study and prepared the preliminary design for a pilot plant having a nominal production capacity of 20 short tons of sulfur/day when treating pure sulfur dioxide. This study found that fixed-bed catalysis was more practical. The preliminary pilot plant design, therefore, provided for a fixed-bed primary reactor of the shell-and-tube type in which the catalyst would be in the tubes. 

Gas samples from the reactor were analyzed by mass spectroscopy and gas chromatography and conversions of sulfur dioxide to sulfur vapor were computed from the combined analytical data. In this large-scale test program, effects on catalyst loading of a number of variables were examined in detail. While the laboratory experimentation had been quite extensive, operation of a pilot plant was considered necessary to permit scale-up of the process to the 200-300 ton/day plants conceivably required in the future. 

Although an empirical rate expression will fulfill some of the requirements, only a mechanistic expression can explain the effects of changes in catalyst formulation in terms of their influence on the elementary aspects of the reaction. Test results in catalyst development programs are rarely interpreted in terms of the kinetic parameters that determine the observed behaviour. 

None of the known examples met the requirements for high yields at short reaction times with environmentally friendly reagents. Therfore, various supported noble metal catalysts and solvents were tested under the same reaction conditions in a catalyst screening program. 

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