Nickel ferrite spinel as catalyst precursor in the dry reforming of methane:Synthesis,characterization and catalytic properties

Dry reforming of methane by CO2 using nickel ferrite as precursor of catalysts was investigated.Nickel ferrite crystalline particles were prepared by coprecipitation of nitrates with NaOH or ammonia followed by calcination,or by hydrothermal synthesis without calcination step.The textural and structural properties were determined by a number of analysis methods,including X-ray diffraction (XRD),Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS),among which X-ray diffraction (XRD) was at room and variable temperatures.All synthesized oxides showed the presence of micro or nanoparticles of NiFe2O4 inverse spinel,but Fe2O3 (hematite) was also present when ammonia was used for coprecipitation.The reducibility by hydrogen was studied by temperature-programmed reduction (TPR) and in situ XRD,which showed the influence of the preparation method.The surface area (BET),particle size (Rietveld refinement),as well as surface Ni/Fe atomic ratio (XPS) and the behavior upon reduction varied according to the synthesis method.The catalytic reactivity was investigated using isopropanol decomposition to determine the acid/base properties.The catalytic performance of methane reforming with CO2 was measured with and without the pre-treatment of catalysts under H2 in 650-800 C range.The catalytic conversions of methane and CO2 were quite low but they increased when the catalysts were pre-reduced.A significant contribution of reverse water gas shift reaction accounted for the low values of H2 /CO ratio.No coking was observed as shown by the reoxidation step performed after the catalytic reactions.The possible formation of nickel-iron alloy observed during the study of reducibility by hydrogen was invoked to account for the catalytic behavior.     

A Novel Cu-Mo／ZSM-5 Catalyst for NOx Catalytic Reduction with Ammonia

The Cu-Mo/ZSM-5 catalysts with different Cu/Mo ratios were prepared by wet impregnation method, and their catalytic performance for selective catalytic reduction of NOx was studied. The results showed that Cu-Mo/ZSM-5 is a very effective catalyst for NOx catalytic reduction with ammonia, especially when Cu/Mo molar ratio is about 1.5. It not only exhibited the extremely high catalytic activity, but also showed good stability for 02. The bulk phase structure of Cu-Mo/ZSM-5 catalysts was determined by XRD technique, and the results indicated that there is a maximum dispersion for Cu species when Cu/Mo molar ratio is 1.5, and an interaction between Cu and Mo along with HZSM-5 may be present in Cu-Mo/ZSM-5, which may possibly result in a special structure favorable for the catalytic reduction of NOx over Cu-Mo/ZSM-5 catalyst.     

Preferential Oxidation of CO in Excess Hydrogen over CuO-CeO2 Catalyst Prepared by Chelating Method

The CuO-CeO2 catalyst prepared by chelating method has a superior catalytic performance for the preferential oxidation of CO in rich hydrogen, compared with the CuO-CeO2 catalyst prepared by coprecipitation method. The CO conversions over these catalysts, at 120℃and 120000 ml/(g-h) in the absence of CO2 and H2O, are 99.6% and 88.6%, respectively, and the selectivity of O2 over these catalysts is very close (i.e. 51.3% and 55.8%, respectively). The influence of certain factors such as hydrogen concentration, carbon monoxide concentration, H2O, O2/CO ratios, and space velocity on the catalytic performance of CuO-CeO2 catalyst prepared by chelating method is also studied. The results show that the addition of hydrogen and H2O has a negative effect on the catalytic performance of CuO-CeO2 catalyst, however, the variation of space velocity and the O2/CO ratio causes a comparatively slight influence.     

Probing the intrinsic catalytic activity of carbon nanotubes for the metal-free oxidation of aromatic thiophene compounds in ionic liquids

A metal-free catalytic system combining oxidized carbon nanotubes(oCNTs) and ionic liquids(ILs) is presented for the oxidation of aromatic thiophene compounds with H_2O_2 as an oxidant. The oCNTs exhibit impressively high activity and stability in the system, which show an even better performance than those of some reported metal catalysts. The ILs are proved to have indispensable influence on the enhanced catalytic performance of the oCNTs. Detailed characterization by TG-MS and XPS demonstrates that the carbonyl groups are the active sites for the oxidation process, which is further supported by the deactivation and the model catalysts experiments. The quantitative analysis of different oxygen groups in oCNTs could be achieved by an isothermal temperature programmed TG-MS method. The concentration of carbonyl groups is 1.46 mmol per 1 g oCNTs and the turnover frequency of oCNTs could also be obtained(10.7 h-1 in the presence of OmimPF_6). H_2O_2 decomposition experiments combined with the EPR results reveal that the presence of OmimPF_6 can avoid the intermediate HO· to form O_2 and then improve the catalytic performance of oCNTs for the oxidation of dibenzothiophene.     

Production of hydrogen-rich gas and multi-walled carbon nanotubes from ethanol decomposition over molybdenum modified Ni/MgO catalysts

A series of molybdenum modified Ni/MgO catalysts(Ni-Mo/MgO) with different loading ratios of Ni : Mo were prepared by impregnation method. Ethanol decomposition to co-produce multi-walled carbon nanotubes and hydrogen-rich gas at temperatures of 600–800 ℃ was investigated over the synthesized Ni-Mo/MgO catalysts. The results showed that the catalytic activity depended strongly on the reaction temperature and loading ratio of Ni : Mo. According to the gaseous and solid products obtained, the reaction pathways for ethanol decomposition were suggested.     

Production of hydrogen-rich gas and multi-walled carbon nanotubes from ethanol decomposition over molybdenum modified Ni/MgO catalysts

A series of molybdenum modified Ni/MgO catalysts(Ni-Mo/MgO) with different loading ratios of Ni : Mo were prepared by impregnation method. Ethanol decomposition to co-produce multi-walled carbon nanotubes and hydrogen-rich gas at temperatures of 600–800 ℃ was investigated over the synthesized Ni-Mo/MgO catalysts. The results showed that the catalytic activity depended strongly on the reaction temperature and loading ratio of Ni : Mo. According to the gaseous and solid products obtained, the reaction pathways for ethanol decomposition were suggested.     

Unraveling and optimizing the metal-metal oxide synergistic effect in a highly active Cox(CoO)1–x catalyst for CO2 hydrogenation

The relation between catalytic reactivities and metal/metal oxide ratios, as well as the functions of the metal and the metal oxides were investigated in the CO_2 hydrogenation reaction over highly active Co_x(CoO)_1–xcatalysts in operando. The catalytic reactivity of the samples in the CO_2 methanation improves with the increased Co O concentration. Strikingly, the sample with the highest concentration of CoO, i.e., Co_0.2(CoO)_0.8, shows activity at temperatures lower than 200 °C where the other samples with less CoO are inactive. The origins of this improvement are the increased amount and moderate binding of adsorbed CO_2 on CoO sites. The derivative adsorption species are found to be intermediates of the CH4 formation. The metallic Co functions as the electronically catalytic site which provides electrons for the hydrogenation steps. As a result, an abundant amount of CoO combined with Co is the optimal composition of the catalyst for achieving the highest reactivity for CO_2 hydrogenation.     

In situ catalytic conversion of biomass fast pyrolysis vapors on HZSM–5

In situ catalytic conversion of biomass fast pyrolysis vapors was carried out on HZSM-5 with varying Si/Al ratios(ranging from 20 to 300) at 450 °C. The effects of Si/Al ratios of HZSM-5 zeolites on the distribution of biomass fast pyrolysis products and carbon deposits on catalysts were investigated. It was quite remarkable that after in situ catalytic conversion the amount of light phenols and hydrocarbons increased significantly while that of heavy phenols decreased a lot. Besides, the yield of cyclopentenones with relatively low oxygen content generally increased. It also indicated that as the Si/Al ratios of HZSM-5 increased, the amount of hydrocarbons and light phenols was found to drop greatly. The amount of carbon deposits was found to be around 8.5% with the exception of HZSM-5 with the Si/Al ratio of 300,which is much lower. Moreover, the carbon deposits yield dropped gradually with increasing Si/Al ratios of HZSM-5.Calcination of spent catalysts at 600 °C helped to restore the catalytic activity to a large extent despite a relatively lower efficiency of deoxygenation. Results indicated that HZSM-5 with relatively high acidity displayed great catalytic performance.     

Tuning Double Layer Structure of WO3 Nanobelt for Promoting the Electrochemical Nitrogen Reduction Reaction in Water

Electrochemical fixation of nitrogen to ammonia with highly active, highly selective and low cost electrocatalysts is a sustainable alternative to the extremely energy-and capital-intensive Haber-Bosch process. Herein, we demonstrate a near electroneutral WO_3 nanobelt catalyst to be a promising electrocatalyst for selective and efficient nitrogen reduction. The concept of near electroneutral interface is demonstrated by fabricating WO_3 nanobelts with small zeta potential value on carbon fiber paper, which ensures a loose double layer structure of the electrode/electrolyte interface and allows nitrogen molecules access the active sites more easily and regulates proton transfer to increase the catalytic selectivity. The WO_3/CFP electrode with optimal surface charge achieves a NH_3 yield rate of 4.3 μg·h~(-1)·mg~(-1) and a faradaic efficiency of 37.3% at-0.3 V vs. RHE, rivalling the performance of the state-of-the-art nitrogen reduction reaction electrocatalysts. The result reveals that an unobstructed gas-diffusion pathway for continually supplying enough nitrogen to the active catalytic sites is of great importance to the overall catalytic performance.     

Role of surface defects of carbon nanotubes on catalytic performance of barium promoted ruthenium catalyst for ammonia synthesis

Carbon nanotubes(CNTs) with abundant surface defects are prepared by a liquid oxidation and thermal annealing method. The defective CNTs-D supported Ba–Ru/CNTs-D catalysts exhibit superior catalytic performance in ammonia synthesis with a TOF be increased up to 0.30 s-1, which is 2.5 times of oxidized CNTs-O supported Ba–Ru/CNTs-O catalysts and 5 times of the Ba–Ru/CNTs. The characterizations by CO chemisorption, transmission electron microscope, Raman, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that the uniformly well dispersed Ru NPs can be stabilized on the defective sites of CNTs-D. The great improvement of the catalytic performance and stability of the Ba–Ru/CNTs-D is contributed to the strong interaction between Ru NPs and surface defect of the CNTs.     

Influence of chemical composition of nanocrystalline iron’s surface on the rates of two parallel reactions: nitriding and catalytic decomposition of ammonia

Influence of chemical composition of nanocrystalline iron’s surface on its activity in the nitriding process of iron and catalytic decomposition of ammonia was studied. The rate of the nitriding reaction was measured by the thermogravimetric method using a tubular differential reactor. Hydrogen concentration in the reactor was also measured. The rate of the catalytic decomposition of ammonia was determined using the reactor’s mass balance. Experiments were conducted at different temperatures within the range from 300°C to 525°C. Iron catalyst for ammonia synthesis was studied. Two sorts of samples with a different content of potassium oxide (0.16 mass % and 0.64 mass % of K2O) were used. The composition of samples from the second group was modified by an addition of different amounts of sulfur. At temperatures above 400°C, when the effect of ammonia decomposition on the gas phase composition was experimentally measured, the presence of potassium and sulfur on the iron surface influenced the rate of the iron nitriding process. The ammonia decomposition rate was higher for samples with a greater amount of potassium. The rate of reactions depended also on the sulfur concentration and dropped when the sulfur content increased. The value of apparent activation energy of ammonia decomposition was in the range of 150 kJ mol⁻¹ to 180 kJ mol⁻¹ while the content of sulfur in the samples increased.     

氮化SBA-16负载镍基催化剂的制备及其对甲烷二氧化碳重整反应的催化性能

通过软模板法合成了SBA-16分子筛,采用高温氨气氮化的方法使有序介孔硅材料中的氧原子部分被氮原子取代,得到氮化的SBA-16载体(SBA-16-N)。采用满孔浸渍法制备了镍基催化剂,并将制得的Ni/SBA-16和Ni/SBA-16-N催化剂用于甲烷二氧化碳重整反应。通过透射电镜、氮气物理吸附、X射线衍射、X射线光电子能谱和二氧化碳程序升温脱附等手段研究了载体和催化剂的结构,并利用热重分析对反应之后回收催化剂进行了表征。结果表明,高温氮化后的分子筛中掺入了氮元素,增加了载体的碱性,改善了载体对反应气体的吸附活化能力,增强了载体与金属之间的相互作用,从而提高了催化剂的活性和抗积炭性能。     

Utilization of Low-grade Iron Ore in Ammonia Decomposition

Due to its cleanliness, fast energy cycle, and convenience of energy conversion, hydrogen has been regarded as the new energy source. Conventional process to produce hydrogen yield large amount of CO as byproduct. Moreover, the hydrogen storage and transportation have become the drawbacks in hydrogen economy. Thus, there has been increased interest in the hydrogen transportation medium as alternatives from the conventional process to produce and transport hydrogen. Ammonia has drawn worldwide attention as the most reliable hydrogen transportation medium. Through the decomposition of ammonia, hydrogen and nitrogen gas were produces as the byproduct without any CO or CO₂ emission. In this experiment, the ore were introduced as the medium for ammonia decomposition. The ore were put into quartz tube reactor and were dehydrated at 400 °C for 1 hour, then hydrogen reduced for 2 hours before and undergone ammonia decomposition at 500-700 °C for 3 hours. The effects of temperature to the % conversion of ammonia decomposition were also studied. Ammonia decomposition at higher temperature gives higher conversion. As seen in the results, the NH₃ conversion decreased with increasing time and the value after 3 hours of reaction increased in the sequence of 500 °C<600 °C< 700 °C. During ammonia decomposition, nitriding of iron occurred. The relation between temperature and the nitriding potential, K_N is also investigated. The purpose of this study is to investigate the utilization of low-grade ore as medium for ammonia decomposition to produce hydrogen.     

NMR study of the composition of aqueous 2-aminoethanol solution used for absorption of carbon dioxide from fuel gases

The compositions of aqueous 2-aminoethanol solutions used in industry for absorption of carbon dioxide resulting from combustion of natural gas have been determined by ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy. The absorption process does not involve generally accepted paths of thermal decomposition of the absorbent in the reaction with carbon dioxide, but the main path is non-oxidative decomposition of 2-aminoethanol into ammonia and ethylene oxide. Splitting of the NMR signals of carbamate anion formed by reaction of 2-aminoethanol with carbon dioxide has been rationalized by specific structure of the anion due to intramolecular hydrogen bonding.     

The effect of iron nanocrystallites’ size in catalysts for ammonia synthesis on nitriding reaction and catalytic ammonia decomposition

Iron catalyst for ammonia synthesis of various mean sizes of iron nanocrystallites were nitrided with ammonia in a differential reactor equipped with systems that made it possible to conduct both thermogravimetric measurements and hydrogen concentration analyses in the reacting gas mixture. The nitriding process was investigated under atmospheric pressure at the temperature of 475°C. It was found that along with an increase of mean size of iron nanocrystallites, with a decrease of specific surface area of the samples, nitriding degree of solid samples increased. At the same time the rate of surface reaction of catalytic ammonia decomposition decreased. Along with an increase of the samples’ specific surface area an increase of the catalyst’s activity was observed. However, it was also observed that the concentration of active sites on the catalysts’ surface decreased along with an increase of specific surface area.     

Modelling of nanocrystalline iron nitriding process — influence of specific surface area

Samples of iron catalysts of various specific surface areas for ammonia synthesis underwent nitriding with ammonia in a tubular reactor where continuous thermogravimetric measurement and measurements of hydrogen concentration in the gaseous phase were simultaneously performed. The nitriding process was performed under atmospheric pressure at 475°C. It was observed that, along with an increase in the mean size of iron nano-crystallites, the minimum nitriding potential (at which the iron nitriding reaction is initiated) of the gaseous phase also increased. The degree of nitriding of the catalyst samples increased with the increase in the mean size of iron crystallites. On the basis of the values of nitriding potential, nano-crystallite size distributions can be determined.     

Hot hydrogen atom reactions moderated by H2 and He

Photolysis experiments were performed on the H2-CD4-NH3 and the He-CD4-NH3 systems. The photolysis (1849 angstoms) involved only NH3. Mixtures of H2:CD4:NH3 included all combinations of the ratios (200,400,800):(10,20,40):4. Two He:CD4:NH3 mixtures were examined where the ratios equalled the combinations 100:(10,20):4. Abstraction of a D from CD4 by the photolytically produced hot hydrogen from ammonia was monitored by mass spectrometric determination of HD. Both experiment and semiempirical hot-atom theory show that H2 is a very poor thermalizer of hot hydrogens with excess kinetic energy of about 2 eV. Applications of the hard-sphere collision model to the H2-CD4-NH3 system results in predicted ratios of net HD production to NH3 decomposition that were two orders of magnitude smaller than the experimental ratios. On the other hand, helium is found to be a very efficient thermalizer; here, the classical model yields reasonable agreement with experiments. Application of a semiempirical hot-atom program gave quantitative agreement with experiment for either system.     

Microkinetics of H2S Removal by Zinc Oxide in the Presence of Moist Gas Atmosphere

The microkinetics os H2S removeal by ZnO desulfurization in H2O-CO2-N2,H2O-CO-N2 and H2O-O2-N2 gas mixtures was studied by thermogravimetric andlysis.Experiments were carried out with 100-120 mesh ZnO powder at temperatures from 473K to 563K.The results show that the kinetic behaviors of desulfurization could all be described by an improved shrinking-core model.The activation energies of the reaction and the diffusion in different gas atmospheres were estimated.     

Influence of precursors chemistry on ALD growth of cobalt-molybdenum oxide films

Cobalt molybdenum compounds are important catalytic materials in many processes, e.g. in splitting of ammonia to form CO free hydrogen fuel. We here report on deposition of such cobalt molybdenum oxides by atomic layer deposition (ALD) using different types of metal precursors CoCp(2) (Cp = cyclopentadienyl), Co(thd)(2) (Hthd = 2,2,6,6-tetramethylheptan-3,5-dione), Mo(CO)(6) and oxygen precursors O(3), H(2)O, and (O(3) + H(2)O). The growth dynamics have been investigated using quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) methods. It is evident that mixing of the different precursor chemistries affect the growth patterns. When water is introduced to the reactions, a surface controlled mechanism takes place which guides the deposited stoichiometry towards the CoMoO(4) phase over a wide range of cobalt rich pulsed compositions. This is a rare example of how surface chemistry can control stoichiometry of depositions in ALD. The deposited films have been investigated by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. The catalytic activity of selected films have been characterized by temperature programmed ammonia decomposition, proving the films to be catalytically active and lowering the decomposition temperature by some 200 °C.     

非平衡等离子体放电模式及反应器结构对氨气分解制氢的影响

在常压下研究了不同等离子体放电模式及反应器结构对氨分解制氢反应的影响.实验中调节反应器结构分别产生了介质阻挡放电和交流弧放电两种放电模式.通过对两种放电模式的放电图像、电压-电流波形和氨分解过程中等离子体区活性物种的发射光谱(OES)研究发现,与介质阻挡放电相比,交流弧放电为局部强放电,具有更高的电源效率和电子密度.因此,在介质阻挡放电中氨气分子大部分通过生成电子激发态物种NH3*,再与载能电子碰撞断裂N―H键进行氨分解反应;而在交流弧放电中载能电子具有更高的平均电子能量,可直接断裂氨气分子的N―H键生成NH2和NH等高活性物种,促进氨分解反应的进行.结果表明,交流弧放电的氨分解效果要明显优于介质阻挡放电.在交流弧放电模式下不同类型反应器对氨气分解转化率由高到低的顺序为:管-管管-板针-板板-板.在输入功率为30 W,气隙间距为6 mm时,管-管交流弧放电的氨气转化率达到60%左右,而板-板介质阻挡放电的氨气转化率仅为4%.