Platinum hydrocarbon catalysis

Subsequent to the discovery of skeletal rearrangement reactions on plati-num/charcoal catalysts, the reality of platinum-only catalysis for reactions of this sort was reinforced with the observation of the isomerization of C4 and C5 aliphatic hydrocarbons over thick continuous evaporated platinum films (68,108, 24). As we have seen from the discussion of film structure in previous sections, films of this sort offer negligible access of gas to the substrate beneath. Furthermore, these reactions were often carried out under conditions where no glass, other than that covered by platinum film, was heated to reaction temperature that is, there was essentially no surface other than platinum available at reaction temperature. Studies have also been carried out (109, 110) using platinum/silica catalysts in which the silica is catalytically inert, and the reaction is undoubted confined to the platinum surface. 

Other techniques such as low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) are also used for surface analysis, primarily for large single crystals. Single crystal metal surfaces have been used to study hydrocarbon catalysis on platinum (Anderson 1975). Techniques such as x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) are also used for surface analysis but normally the reports describe mostly idealized single-crystal surfaces in high vacuum as opposed to using real-life (practical) catalyst systems under reaction environments. 

IX. A Descriptive Model of Hydrocarbon Catalysis on Platinum Surfaces. . 58... 

Using this approach to study heterogeneous catalysis on the atomic scale, we have investigated the mechanism of hydrocarbon catalysis by platinum surfaces. We shall describe in detail the results of these studies, which are pertinent in determining the nature of the active sites on the surface of this metal. We shall show how the results obtained for platinum may be extrapolated to other catalyst systems. Finally, we shall present a model of metal catalysis that has been emerging from our studies of platinum surfaces. 

Fie. 29. Relationship between homogeneous, heterogeneous, and enzyme catalysis as inferred from the experimental studies of hydrocarbon catalysis on platinum surfaces. 

S. M. Davis, Hydrocarbon catalysis over platinum single crystal surfaces The role of adsorbed carbon deposits and oAer chemical additives. Report, LBL-13051 Order No. DE8201Q296,512 pp. Avail. NTIS From Energy Res. Abstr. 1982.7(13, Abstr. No. 34375. 

Cant, N. W, Angove, D. E. J. Patterson, M. The effects of residual chlorine on the behaviour of platinum group metals for oxidation of different hydrocarbons. Catalysis Today 44, 93-99 (1998). 

The impurities usually found in raw hydrogen are CO2, CO, N2, H2O, CH, and higher hydrocarbons. Removal of these impurities by shift catalysis, H2S and CO2 removal, and the pressure-swing adsorption (PSA) process have been described (vide supra). Traces of oxygen in electrolytic hydrogen are usually removed on a palladium or platinum catalyst at room temperature. 

Perhaps the most familiar example of heterogeneous catalysis is the series of reactions that occur in the catalytic converter of an automobile (Figure 11.12). Typically this device contains 1 to 3 g of platinum metal mixed with rhodium. The platinum catalyzes the oxidation of carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons such as benzene, C6H6 ... 

Steps 1 through 9 constitute a model for heterogeneous catalysis in a fixed-bed reactor. There are many variations, particularly for Steps 4 through 6. For example, the Eley-Rideal mechanism described in Problem 10.4 envisions an adsorbed molecule reacting directly with a molecule in the gas phase. Other models contemplate a mixture of surface sites that can have different catalytic activity. For example, the platinum and the alumina used for hydrocarbon reforming may catalyze different reactions. Alternative models lead to rate expressions that differ in the details, but the functional forms for the rate expressions are usually similar. 

Thus, all five triple bonds in decamethyl[5]pericycline 3 can be completely hydrogenated to yield the corresponding saturated cyclic hydrocarbon 78 under platinum catalysis (Pt02, Adam s catalyst), albeit with some difficulty (Fig. 6). 

Surface science studies have generated much insight into how hydrocarbons react on the surfaces of platinum single crystals. We refer to Somorjai [G.A. Somor-jai. Introduction to Surface Chemistry and Catalysis (1994), Wiley, New York] for a detailed overview. Also, the reactions of hydrocarbons on acidic sites of alumina or on zeolites have been studied in great detail [H. van Bekkum, E.M. Flanigan and J.C. Jansen (Eds.), Introduction to Zeolite Science and Practice (1991), Elsevier, Amsterdam],... 

Poisoning of platinum fuel cell catalysts by CO is undoubtedly one of the most severe problems in fuel cell anode catalysis. As shown in Fig. 6.1, CO is a strongly bonded intermediate in methanol (and ethanol) oxidation. It is also a side product in the reformation of hydrocarbons to hydrogen and carbon dioxide, and as such blocks platinum sites for hydrogen oxidation. Not surprisingly, CO electrooxidation is one of the most intensively smdied electrocatalytic reactions, and there is a continued search for CO-tolerant anode materials that are able to either bind CO weakly but still oxidize hydrogen, or that oxidize CO at significantly reduced overpotential. 

That products of intermediate oxidation level can be detected in the photocatalytic reactions of hydrocarbons and fossil fuels is also consistent with a surface bound radical intermediate . Photocatalytic isotope exchange between cyclopentane and deuterium on bifunctional platinum/titanium dioxide catalysts indicates the importance of weakly adsorbed pentane at oxide sites. The platinum serves to attract free electrons, decreasing the efficiency of electron-hole recombination, and to regenerate the surface oxide after exchange. Much better control of the exchange is afforded with photoelectrochemical than thermal catalysis > ) As before, hydrocarbon oxidations can also be conducted at the gas-solid interface... 

This and similar instruments (3,4) that allow one to study reaction rates and product distributions on small-area crystal and catalyst surfaces have been used in our studies of the mechanism of heterogeneous catalysis and the nature of active sites. These studies, which concentrated primarily on hydrocarbon reaction as catalyzed by platinum crystal surfaces, will be reviewed in the next section. 

Some heterogeneous catalytic reactions proceed by a sequence of elementary processes certain of which occur at one set of sites while others occur at sites which are of a completely different nature. For example, some of the processes in the reforming reactions of hydrocarbons on platinum/ alumina occur at the surface of platinum, others at acidic sites on the alumina. Such catalytic reactions are said to represent bifunctional catalysis. The two types of sites are ordinarily intermixed on the same primary particles ( 1.3.2) but similar reactions may result even when the catalyst is a mixture of particles each containing but one type of site. These ideas could, of course, be extended to crea te the concept of polyfunctional catalysis. 

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