Carregadores de oxigênio a base de níquel suportado em materiais mesooros para aplicação na recirculação química com reforma (RQR)

Oxygen carriers are metal oxides which have the ability to oxidize and reduce easily by various cycles. Due to this property these materials are widely usedin Chemical-Looping Reforming processes to produce H2 and syngas. In this work supports based on MCM-41 and La-SiO2 were synthesized by hydrothermal method. After the synthesis step they were calcined at 550°C for 2 hours and characterized by TG, XRD, surface area using the BET method and FTIR spectroscopy. The deposition of active phase, in this case Nickel, took place in the proportions of 5, 10 and 20% by weight of metallic nickel, for use as oxygen carriers.The XRD showed that increasing in the content of Ni supported on MCM-41 resulted in a decrease in spatial structure and lattice parameter of the material. The adsorption and desorption curves of the MCM-41 samples exhibited variations with the increase of Ni deposited. Surface area, average pore diameter and wall density of silica showed significant changes , due to the increase of the active phase on the mesoporous material. By other hand, in the samples with La-SiO2 composition was not observed peaks characteristic of hexagonal structure, in the XRD diffractogram. The adsorption/desorption isotherms of nitrogen observed are type IV, characteristic of mesoporous materials. The catalytic test indicates that the supports have no influence in the process, but the nickel concentration is very important, because the results for minor concentration of nickel are not good. The ratio H2/O2 was close to 2, for all 15 cycles involving the test storage capacity of O2, indicating that the materials are effective for oxygen transport

Síntese e caracterização de zeólita beta hierarquizada e materiais híbridos micro-mesoporosos aplicados no craqueamento de PEAD

A catalyst of great interest to the scientific community tries to unite the structure of ordered pore diameter from mesoporous materials with the properties of stability and acid activity to microporous zeolites. Thus a large number of materials was developed in the past decades, which although being reported as zeolites intrinsically they fail to comply with some relevant characteristics to zeolites, and recently were named zeolitic materials of high accessibility. Among the various synthesis strategies employed, the present research approaches the synthesis methods of crystallization of silanized protozeolitic units and the method of protozeolitic units molded around surfactant micelles, in order for get materials defined as hierarchical zeolites and micro-mesoporous hybrid materials, respectively. As goal BEA/MCM-41 hybrid catalysts with bimodal pore structure formed by nuclei of zeolite Beta and cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium were developed. As also was successfully synthesized the hierarchical Beta zeolite having a secondary porosity, in addition to the typical and uniform zeolite micropores. Both catalysts were applied in reactions of catalytic cracking of high density polyethylene (HDPE), to evaluate its properties in catalytic activity, aiming at the recycling of waste plastics to obtain high value-added raw materials and fuels. The BEA/MCM-41 hybrid materials with 0 days of pre-crystallization did not show enough properties for use in catalytic cracking reactions, but they showed superior catalytic properties compared to those ordered mesoporous materials of Al-MCM-41 type. The structure of Beta zeolite with hierarchical porosity leads the accessibility of HDPE bulky molecules to active centers, due to high external area. And provides higher conversion to hydrocarbons in the gasoline range, especially olefins which have great interest in the petrochemical industry

Síntese de catalisadores nanoporosos na ausência total e parcial de direcionadores orgânicos para pirólise catalítica de óleos pesados e intermediários

The processing of heavy oil produced in Brazil is an emergency action and a strategic plan to obtain self-sufficiency and economic surpluses. Seen in these terms, it is indispensable to invest in research to obtain new catalysts for obtaining light fraction of hydrocarbons from heavy fractions of petroleum. This dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy reports the materials preparation that combine the high catalytic activity of zeolites with the greater accessibility of the mesoporosity, more particularly the HZSM-5/MCM-41 hybrid, done by synthesis processes with less environmental impact than conventional ones. Innovative methodologies were developed for the synthesis of micro-mesoporous hybrid material by dual templating mechanism and from crystalline zeolitic aluminosilicate in the absence of organic template. The synthesis of hybrid with pore bimodal distribution took place from one-single organic directing agent aimed to eliminate the use of organic templates, acids of any kind or organic solvents like templating agent of crystalline zeolitic aluminosilicate together with temperature-programmed microwave-assisted, making the experimental procedures of preparation most practical and easy, with good reproducibility and low cost. The study about crystalline zeolitic aluminosilicate in the absence of organic template, especially MFI type, is based on use of H2O and Na+ cation playing a structural directing role in place of an organic template. Advanced characterization techniques such as X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Highresolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM), Adsorption of N2 and CO2, kinetic studies by Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Pyrolysis coupled to Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (Pyrolysis-GC/MS) were employed in order to evaluate the synthesized materials. Achieve the proposed objectives, has made available a set of new methodologies for the synthesis of zeolite and hybrid micro-mesoporous material, these suitable for catalytic pyrolysis of heavy oils aimed at producing light fraction

Avaliação da remoção catalítica de compostos orgânicos monoaromáticos em água utilizando materiais nanoestruturados de sílica

Statistics of environmental protection agencies show that the soil has been contaminated with problems often resulting from leaks, spills and accidents during exploration, refining, transportation and storage oil operations and its derivatives. These, gasoline noteworthy, verified by releasing, to get in touch with the groundwater, the compounds BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes), substances which are central nervous system depressants and causing leukemia. Among the processes used in remediation of soil and groundwater contaminated with organic pollutants, we highlight those that use hydrogen peroxide because they are characterized by the rapid generation of chemical species of high oxidation power, especially the hydroxyl radical ( OH), superoxide (O2 -) and peridroxil (HO2 ), among other reactive species that are capable of transforming or decomposing organic chemicals. The pH has a strong effect on the chemistry of hydrogen peroxide because the formation of different radicals directly depends on the pH of the medium. In this work, the materials MCM-41 and Co-MCM-41 were synthesized and used in the reaction of BTEX removal in aqueous media using H2O2. These materials were synthesized by the hydrothermal method and the techniques used to characterize were: XRD, TG/DTG, adsorption/desorption N2, TEM and X-Ray Fluorescence. The catalytic tests were for 5 h of reaction were carried out in reactors of 20 mL, which was accompanied by the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide by molecular absorption spectrophotometry in the UV-Vis, in addition to removal of organic compounds BTEX was performed as gas chromatography with detection photoionization and flame ionization and by static headspace sampler. The characterizations proved that the materials were successfully synthesized. The catalytic tests showed satisfactory results, and the reactions containing BTEX + Co-MCM-41 + H2O2 at pH = 12.0 had the highest percentages of removal for the compounds studied

Estudo de materiais mesoporosos funcionalizados com diferentes aminas para captura do dióxido de carbono através do processo de adsorção

Intensive use of machinery and engines burning fuel dumps into the atmosphere huge amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2), causing the intensification of the greenhouse effect. Climate changes that are occurring in the world are directly related to emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly CO2, gases, mainly due to the excessive use of fossil fuels. The search for new technologies to minimize the environmental impacts of this phenomenon has been investigated. Sequestration of CO2 is one of the alternatives that can help minimize greenhouse gas emissions. The CO2 can be captured by the post-combustion technology, by adsorption using adsorbents selective for this purpose. With this objective, were synthesized by hydrothermal method at 100 °C, the type mesoporous materials MCM - 41 and SBA-15. After the synthesis, the materials were submitted to a calcination step and subsequently functionalized with different amines (APTES, MEA, DEA and PEI) through reflux method. The samples functionalized with amines were tested for adsorption of CO2 in order to evaluate their adsorption capacities as well, were subjected to various analyzes of characterization in order to assess the efficiency of the method used for functionalization with amines. The physic-chemical techniques were used: X- ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen adsorption and desorption (BET/BJH), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), CNH Analysis, Thermogravimetry (TG/DTG) and photoelectron spectroscopy X-ray (XPS). The CO2 adsorption experiments were carried out under the following conditions: 100 mg of adsorbent, at 25 °C under a flow of 100 ml/min of CO2, atmospheric pressure and the adsorption variation in time 10-210 min. The X-ray diffraction with the transmission electron micrographs for the samples synthesized and functionalized, MCM-41 and SBA-15 showed characteristic peaks of hexagonal mesoporous structure formation, showing the structure thereof was obtained. The method used was efficient reflux according to XPS and elemental analysis, which showed the presence of amines in the starting materials. The functionalized SBA -15 samples were those that had potential as best adsorbent for CO2 capture when compared with samples of MCM-41, obtaining the maximum adsorption capacity for SBA-15-P sample

Detecção e quantificação eletroquímica de substâncias de interesse clínico, ambiental e forense utilizando eletrodo de pasta de grafite modificado com trisilanol poss ligado a suportes porosos e eletrodos impressos obtidos via screen-printed

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Inverse size exclusion chromatography (ISEC)

In this work, an improved protocol for inverse size-exclusion chromatography (ISEC) was established to assess important pore structural data of porous silicas as stationary phases in packed chromatographic columns. After the validity of the values generated by ISEC was checked by comparison with data obtained from traditional methods like nitrogen sorption at 77 K (Study A), the method could be successfully employed as valuable tool at the development of bonded poly(methacrylate)-coated silicas, while traditional methods generate partially incorrect pore structural information (Study B). Study A: Different mesoporous silicas were converted by a pseudomorphical transition into ordered MCM-41-type silica while maintaining the particle-size and -shape. The essential parameters like specific surface area, average pore diameter and specific pore volume, the pore connectivity from ISEC remained nearly the same which was reflected by the same course of the theoretical plate height vs. linear velocity curves. Study B: In the development of bonded poly(methacrylate)-coated silicas for the reversed phase separation of biopolymers, ISEC was the only method to generate valid pore structural information of the polymer-coated materials. Synthesis procedures were developed to obtain reproducibly covalently bonded poly(methacrylate) coatings with good thermal stability on different base materials, employing as well particulate and monolithic materials.

Sviluppo dei materiali innovativi e studio della loro interazione con sistemi biologici e biomimetici

Nell’ambito della Chimica Sostenibile e dell’applicazione dei suoi principi per la salvaguardia dell’ambiente, il progetto di dottorato ha riguardato lo sviluppo di materiali innovativi e lo studio della loro interazione con sistemi biologici e biomimetici. In particolare l’attività si è focalizzata sulla sintesi di liquidi ionici ed indagini delle interazioni con membrane cellulari e sull’utilizzo ed isolamento di molecole da fonti rinnovabili. I liquidi ionici sono sali organici liquidi a temperature inferiori ai 100 °C; sono considerati promettenti solventi a ridotta tossicità, ma vanno chiarite a pieno le modalità di interazione con i sistemi biologici ed i meccanismi di tossicità. A questo scopo è stata impiegata una batteria di test bio-chimici, con saggi di fluorescenza e colorimetrici, che hanno permesso di discriminare le diverse tipologie di interazioni con varie strutture di membrana. Le informazioni raccolte sono servite per progettare sostanze meno dannose per le strutture cellulari, al fine di scegliere le funzionalità molecolari che consentano ai liquidi ionici di mantenere la loro attività ma di essere meno dannosi per l’ambiente. Per quanto riguarda l’utilizzo ed isolamento di molecole da fonte rinnovabili, si è utilizzata la tecnica della pirolisi per l’ottenimento di starting materials ed il loro impiego nella sintesi di chemicals in alternativa a composti derivanti da fonti fossili. La pirolisi tradizionale della cellulosa fornisce una molecola interessante, per semplicità denominata LAC, in quantità insufficienti ad un uso applicativo. Nell’ambito delle ricerche svolte è stato scoperto che la pirolisi condotta in presenza di catalizzatori meso-strutturati (MCM-41) drogati con metalli di transizione, fornisce buone quantità di LAC. LAC si è dimostrato promettente sia per la produzione di nuove molecole con possibili applicazioni nella chimica fine e farmaceutica, che come monomero per nuovi polimeri (copolimero ed omopolimero).

Development of innovative catalysts for the hydrodechlorination to fluoroethers

In this work the hydrodechlorination of CF3OCFClCF2Cl to produce unsaturated CF3OCF=CF2 was studied over a series of supported metal catalysts. Currently this molecule is produced from the precursor CF3OCFClCF2Cl by dechlorination with zinc powder. An important cost on the economic and environmental balance is represents by the large amount of ZnCl2 produced and to be disposed of. A new approach, based on gas-phase hydrodechlorination over supported catalysts can lead to a new sustainable process. During the feasibility step of this project, substantially two kind of materials were studied: metals supported over activated carbon and Pd/Cu species supported over MCM-41 mesoporous silica. Observed catalytic performances were strongly dependent on the metal and support used. All carbon-supported Ru, Pd, and bimetallic catalysts are fairly active and yielded the target product CF3OCF=CF2, the higher selectivity being obtained with ruthenium- and palladium-based materials. Nevertheless, Ru-based catalysts showed poor stability and this deactivation may be attributed to the deposition of chlorinated organic species blocking the active sites. On the other hand, palladium-containing catalysts showed high stability. Ru/Pd and Pd/Cu bimetallic catalysts exhibited long-term selectivity and stability, highlighting the possibility for these materials to be employed in the CF3OCF=CF2 production process. During the second part of this thesis, a series of bimetallic meso-structured Pd/Cu MCM-41 catalysts were studies to overcome possible mass transfer limitations. The materials were obtained by different synthesis methods. The incorporation of Pd and Cu during MCM-41 synthesis, did not destroy the typical hexagonal array and ordered pore system of MCM-41. However, the calcination for the removal of the template provoked significant segregation of oxides. The impregnation leads to pore-occlusion and formation of Cu particles and large bimetallic PdCu species. Larger metal particles leads to lower CF3OCFClCF2Cl conversion, while the monometallic particles can decrease the selectivity to CF3OCF=CF2, fostering the dehalogenation to CF3OCH=CF2.

Application of density functional theory to equilibrium adsorption of argon and nitrogen on amorphous silica surface

We present a new version of non-local density functional theory (NL-DFT) adapted to description of vapor adsorption isotherms on amorphous materials like non-porous silica. The novel feature of this approach is that it accounts for the roughness of adsorbent surface. The solid–fluid interaction is described in the same framework as in the case of fluid–fluid interactions, using the Weeks–Chandler–Andersen (WCA) scheme and the Carnahan–Starling (CS) equation for attractive and repulsive parts of the Helmholtz free energy, respectively. Application to nitrogen and argon adsorption isotherms on non-porous silica LiChrospher Si-1000 at their boiling points, recently published by Jaroniec and co-workers, has shown an excellent correlative ability of our approach over the complete range of pressures, which suggests that the surface roughness is mostly the reason for the observed behavior of adsorption isotherms. From the analysis of these data, we found that in the case of nitrogen adsorption short-range interactions between oxygen atoms on the silica surface and quadrupole of nitrogen molecules play an important role. The approach presented in this paper may be further used in quantitative analysis of adsorption and desorption isotherms in cylindrical pores such as MCM-41 and carbon nanotubes.

Comparative Analysis of Structural and Morphological Properties of Large-Pore Periodic Mesoporous Organosilicas and Pure Silicas

A systematic study on the structural properties and external morphologies of large-pore mesoporous organosilicas synthesized using triblock copolymer EO20PO70EO20 as a template under low-acid conditions was carried out. By employing the characterization techniques of SAXS, FE-SEM, and physical adsorption of N-2 in combination with alpha(s)-plot method, the structural properties and external morphologies of large-pore mesoporous organosilicas were critically examined and compared with that of their pure-silica counterparts synthesized under similar conditions. It has been observed that unlike mesoporous pure silicas, the structural and morphological properties of mesoporous organosilicas are highly acid-sensitive. High-quality mesoporous organosilicas can only be obtained from synthesis gels with the molar ratios of HCl/H2O between 7.08 x 10(-4) and 6.33 x 10(-3), whereas mesoporous pure silicas with well-ordered structure can be obtained in a wider range of acid concentration. Simply by adjusting the HCl/H2O molar ratios, the micro-, meso-, and macroporosities of the organosilica materials can be finely tuned without obvious effect on their structural order. Such a behavior is closely related to their acid-controlled morphological evolution: from necklacelike fibers to cobweb-supported pearl-like particles and to nanosized particulates.

Effect of the preparation technique on the catalytic properties of mesoporous V-HMS for the oxidation of toluene

Various mesoporous catalysts with vanadium loadings between 0.5 and 6 V wt.% and surface areas around 1300 m(2)/g were synthesized using the isomorphous substitution (IS) and molecular designed dispersion (MDD) techniques. Their catalytic properties were tested using toluene as a model VOC in a fixed bed reactor at temperatures between 300 and 550 degrees C. It was found that during the oxidation of toluene, over V-HMS synthesized via IS, conversion of toluene mainly results in carbon oxides, benzene, benzaldehyde and water. Total conversion is greatly improved when the vanadium content is increased from around 1.5 to 3.0 wt.%, but an increase in the textural porosity (V-TEX/V-MESO) from 0.3 to 0.6 had no discernable effect on the conversion. This can be explained by the fact that a V-TEX/V-MESO as low as 0.3 is sufficient to facilitate the access of toluene into the framework confined mesopores without any molecular transport limitations. However, when using V-HMS synthesized by MDD, conversion of toluene is greatly improved when the V-TEX/ V-MESO ratio is increased from 0.1 to 0.6. This is because the diffusion limitations are minimized by this increase. V-HMS synthesized via MDD does not exhibit selectivity to benzaldehyde, favoring total oxidation to CO and CO2. This different oxidation mechanism can be explained in terms of location, accessibility and number of active species on the surface of the HMS support. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Fast pyrolysis of cassava rhizome in the presence of catalysts

Cassava rhizome was catalytically pyrolysed at 500 °C using analytical pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) in order to investigate the effect of catalysts on bio-oil properties. The catalysts studied were zeolite ZSM-5, two aluminosilicate mesoporous materials Al-MCM-41 and Al-MSU-F, and a proprietary commercial catalyst alumina-stabilised ceria MI-575. The influence of catalysts on pyrolysis products was observed through the yields of aromatic hydrocarbons, phenols, lignin-derived compounds, carbonyls, methanol and acetic acid. Results showed that all the catalysts produced aromatic hydrocarbons and reduced oxygenated lignin derivatives, thus indicating an improvement of bio-oil heating value and viscosity. Among the catalysts, ZSM-5 was the most active to all the changes in pyrolysis products. In addition, all the catalysts with the exception of MI-575 enhanced the formation of acetic acid. This is clearly a disadvantage with respect to the level of pH in the liquid bio-fuel.

Evaluation of catalytic pyrolysis of cassava rhizome by principal component analysis

Rhizome of cassava plants (Manihot esculenta Crantz) was catalytically pyrolysed at 500 °C using analytical pyrolysis–gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py–GC/MS) method in order to investigate the relative effect of various catalysts on pyrolysis products. Selected catalysts expected to affect bio-oil properties were used in this study. These include zeolites and related materials (ZSM-5, Al-MCM-41 and Al-MSU-F type), metal oxides (zinc oxide, zirconium (IV) oxide, cerium (IV) oxide and copper chromite) catalysts, proprietary commercial catalysts (Criterion-534 and alumina-stabilised ceria-MI-575) and natural catalysts (slate, char and ashes derived from char and biomass). The pyrolysis product distributions were monitored using models in principal components analysis (PCA) technique. The results showed that the zeolites, proprietary commercial catalysts, copper chromite and biomass-derived ash were selective to the reduction of most oxygenated lignin derivatives. The use of ZSM-5, Criterion-534 and Al-MSU-F catalysts enhanced the formation of aromatic hydrocarbons and phenols. No single catalyst was found to selectively reduce all carbonyl products. Instead, most of the carbonyl compounds containing hydroxyl group were reduced by zeolite and related materials, proprietary catalysts and copper chromite. The PCA model for carboxylic acids showed that zeolite ZSM-5 and Al-MSU-F tend to produce significant amounts of acetic and formic acids.

Catalytic pyrolysis of agricultural residues for bio-oil production

Agricultural residues from Thailand, namely stalk and rhizome of cassava plants, were employed as raw materials for bio-oil production via fast pyrolysis technology. There were two main objectives of this project. The first one was to determine the optimum pyrolysis temperature for maximising the organics yield and to investigate the properties of the bio-oils produced. To achieve this objective, pyrolysis experiments were conducted using a bench-scale (150 g/h) reactor system, followed by bio-oil analysis. It was found that the reactor bed temperature that could give the highest organics yield for both materials was 490±15ºC. At all temperatures studied, the rhizome gave about 2-4% higher organics yields than the stalk. The bio-oil derived from the rhizome had lower oxygen content, higher calorific value and better stability, thus indicating better quality than that produced from the stalk. The second objective was to improve the bio-oil properties in terms of heating value, viscosity and storage stability by the incorporation of catalyst into the pyrolysis process. Catalytic pyrolysis was initially performed in a micro-scale reactor to screen a large number of catalysts. Subsequently, seven catalysts were selected for experiments with larger-scale (150 g/h) pyrolysis unit. The catalysts were zeolite and related materials (ZSM-5, Al-MCM-41 and Al-MSU-F), commercial catalysts (Criterion-534 and MI-575), copper chromite and ash. Additionally, the combination of two catalysts in series was investigated. These were Criterion-534/ZSM-5 and Al-MSU-F/ZSM-5. The results showed that all catalysts could improve the bio-oils properties as they enhanced cracking and deoxygenation reactions and in some cases such as ZSM-5, Criterion-534 and Criterion-534/ZSM-5, valuable chemicals like hydrocarbons and light phenols were produced. The highest concentration of these compounds was obtained with Criterion-534/ZSM-5.