431166 Earth-Abundant Metals As Catalysts for Emerging Feedstocks

Wednesday, November 11, 2015: 4:35 PM
355A (Salt Palace Convention Center)
Hongda Zhu, Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS; Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis, Lawrence, KS, Anand Ramanathan, Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS and Bala Subramaniam, Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

Making platform chemicals from emerging feedstocks such as biomass and shale gas present new challenges for the development of catalysts that accommodate molecules of widely varying sizes and enhanced hydrothermal stability. In this context, we have been investigating metal-containing ultra-large pore mesoporous silicates synthesized in our laboratory, including Zr-KIT-61, Nb-KIT-62, and W-KIT-63 materials as potential catalysts. As a probe reaction, we investigated ethanol dehydration over these catalysts. Preliminary results indicate that these catalysts are active for ethanol dehydration providing rather high selectivity (nearly 80 %) towards ethylene. Results on activity, selectivity and stability of these catalysts, as well as intrinsic kinetic parameters for ethanol dehydration, will be presented along with mechanistic insights.

1. Ramanathan, A. et al., 2013. Micropor. Mesopor. Mater. 167, 207–212.
2. Ramanathan, A. et al., 2014. Micropor. Mesopor. Mater. 190, 240–247.
3. Ramanathan, A. et al., 2012. J. Porous Mat. 19, 961–968.


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See more of this Session: Catalysis with Microporous and Mesoporous Materials III
See more of this Group/Topical: Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division