Isopropanol decomposition over VK-Al catalysts: influence of acid-base properties on catalytic perfomance

• Grant number: 13/23400-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2014
• End date: July 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Chemical Engineering - Chemical Technology
• Principal Investigator: Gilberto Garcia Cortez
• Grantee: Mariana da Silva Pinto Martins
• Host Institution: Escola de Engenharia de Lorena (EEL). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Lorena , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The transition aluminas constitute a family of materials of great importance in the field of heterogeneous catalysis. In the chemical industry, they are widely used as catalyst supports since they have favorable textural properties and intrinsic character acid-base. The boehmite or aluminum oxide-hydroxide (AlOOH), for example, is one of the most important precursors for industrial catalyst supports, the ³-alumina. The use of ³-alumina as catalyst support has been extensively investigated in many industrial processes, especially in the automobile and oil industries. For this reason, the surface properties of ³-alumina have been the subject of much research for many years. Group V metal oxides supported on ³-alumina have a wide range of catalytic applications in the petroleum refining. Much has been discussed about the nature of the active sites of vanadium catalysts, their interaction with the support and the chemical species to be catalyzed. Several physical-chemical studies have been conducted to characterize the system VOx -supported in order to clarify these issues and direct the research that leads to the maximization of their catalytic properties. In this sense, the main objective of this study is to evaluate the catalytic activity of vanadium and potassium supported on alumina prepared from boehmite synthesis. The catalysts will be characterized by techniques like specific area (BET method), temperature programmed reduction (TPR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) and evaluated by the decomposition reaction of isopropanol to investigate the character of acidic and basic system VK-Al2O3.