Catalysis Science & Technology Blog

There’s always room for improvement and with this at the forefront of their minds, Giuseppe Bellussi and colleagues from Eni, Italy have focused on “converting the bottom of the barrel” – that is, turning high molecualr weight oil fractions into lighter compounds in the more useful boiling point range.

There are several different technologies that address this (see the Catalysis Science & Technology article for more information) but Bellussi et al. have concentrated their efforts on upgrading the slurry bed technology – a process that so far has seen limited industrial development.

The slurry technology that Eni put their cracking catalyst/Mo₂S catalyst to use in

The key to their success in fully converting the heavy and extra heavy oils into the middle distillates was using a dual catalyst – a catalytic system which comprises both a conventional cracking catalyst and nano dispersed molybdenum disulfide, the latter of which is responsible for protecting the cracking catalyst from coke and metal deposition.

For more details, download the article now…

The role of MoS₂ nano-slabs in the protection of the heterogeneous cracking catalyst for the total conversion of heavy oils to good quality distillates
Giuseppe Bellussi, Giacomo Rispoli, Daniele Molinari, Alberto Landoni, Paolo Pollesel, Nicoletta Panariti, Roberto Millini and Erica Montanari

There is so much research currently being dedicated to nanoparticle catalysts but how can we plan for how they will behave under different temperature conditions?

Amanda Barnard at CSIRO, Australia, has performed theoretical modelling, producing a nanoscale phase diagram that predicts the morphologies of a range of palladium nanocatalysts as a function of the number of atoms or diameter, and temperature.

It seems that under almost all conditions, monocrystalline shapes are thermodynamically preferred with the exception of particularly small nanoparticles at low temperatures, where multiply-twinned decahedra are stable.

To read more about Barnard’s findings, download the Catalysis Science & Technology article today – it’s free…

Mapping the shape and phase of palladium nanocatalysts
Amanda S. Barnard

Reusability of catalysts

The topic of sustainable energy needs no introduction and while there are numerous technologies that provide a more sustainable and environmentally friendly energy source, no single process has been identified as the best way forward. This is in part due to the fact that current supplies of energy, whether generated by gas, coal, nuclear, solar, wind or tidal sources, all have their own disadvantages.

Biodiesel is no different, as the transesterification of readily available vegetable oils produces large quantities of waste glycerol as a by-product (around 10 wt%) causing substantial economic waste.

In their manuscript Binbin Zhao, Chengcheng Li and Chunli Xu discuss their attempts to understand the conversion of glycerol into the more useful product 1,2-propanediol. The reaction mechanism of glycerol hydrogenolysis is not well understood so the team have tried to study it using a Cu/Mg-Al mixed-oxide catalyst with hydrotalcite-like compounds (a class of anionic clays found in nature).

You can download the manuscript below for full details of the team’s research

Insight of catalytic mechanism of glycerol hydrogenolysis using basal spacing of hydrotalcite as a tool
Binbin Zhao, Chengcheng Li and Chunli Xu
Journal Article
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C2CY20144E

If you’re interested in finding out more information about the role of catalysis in sustainable energy you can take a look at our previous blog post The quest for cleaner, cheaper, more sustainable energy.

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