The effect of preparation route of commercial Co/γ-Al2O3 catalyst on important Fischer-Tropsch kinetic parameters studied by SSITKA and CO-DRIFTS transient hydrogenation techniques

Model-Based Design of Experiments for Temporal Analysis of Products (TAP): A Simulated Case Study in Oxidative Propane Dehydrogenation

Temporal analysis of products (TAP) reactors enable experiments that probe numerous kinetic processes within a single set of experimental data through variations in pulse intensity, delay, or temperature. Selecting additional TAP experiments often involves an arbitrary selection of reaction conditions or the use of chemical intuition. To make experiment selection in TAP more robust, we explore the efficacy of model-based design of experiments (MBDoE) for precision in TAP reactor kinetic modeling. We successfully applied this approach to a case study of synthetic oxidative propane dehydrogenation (OPDH) that involves pulses of propane and oxygen. We found that experiments identified as optimal through the MBDoE for precision generally reduce parameter uncertainties to a higher degree than alternative experiments. The performance of MBDoE for model divergence was also explored for OPDH, with the relevant active sites (catalyst structure) being unknown. An experiment that maximized the divergence between the three proposed mechanisms was identified and provided evidence that improved the mechanism discrimination. However, reoptimization of kinetic parameters eliminated the ability to discriminate between models. The findings yield insight into the prospects and limitations of MBDoE for TAP and transient kinetic experiments.

The Effect of CO Partial Pressure on Important Kinetic Parameters of Methanation Reaction on Co-Based FTS Catalyst Studied by SSITKA-MS and Operando DRIFTS-MS Techniques

A 20 wt% Co-0.05 wt% Pt/γ-Al2O3 catalyst was investigated to obtain a fundamental understanding of the effect of CO partial pressure (constant H2 partial pressure) on important kinetic parameters of the methanation reaction (x vol% CO/25 vol% H2, x = 3, 5 and 7) by performing advanced transient isotopic and operando diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy–mass spectrometry (DRIFTS-MS) experiments. Steady State Isotopic Transient Kinetic Analysis (SSITKA) experiments conducted at 1.2 bar, 230 °C after 5 h in CO/H2 revealed that the surface coverages, θCO and θCHx and the mean residence times, τCO, and τCHx (s) of the reversibly adsorbed CO-s and active CHx-s (Cα) intermediates leading to CH4, respectively, increased with increasing CO partial pressure. On the contrary, the apparent activity (keff, s−1) of CHx-s intermediates, turnover frequency (TOF, s−1) of methanation reaction, and the CH4-selectivity (SCH4, %) were found to decrease. Transient isothermal hydrogenation (TIH) following the SSITKA step-gas switch provided important information regarding the reactivity and concentration of active (Cα) and inactive -CxHy (Cβ) carbonaceous species formed after 5 h in the CO/H2 reaction. The latter Cβ species were readily hydrogenated at 230 °C in 50%H2/Ar. The surface coverage of Cβ was found to vary only slightly with increasing CO partial pressure. Temperature-programmed hydrogenation (TPH) following SSITKA and TIH revealed that other types of inactive carbonaceous species (Cγ) were formed during Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis (FTS) and hydrogenated at elevated temperatures (250–550 °C). The amount of Cγ was found to significantly increase with increasing CO partial pressure. All carbonaceous species hydrogenated during TIH and TPH revealed large differences in their kinetics of hydrogenation with respect to the CO partial pressure in the CO/H2 reaction mixture. Operando DRIFTS-MS transient isothermal hydrogenation of adsorbed CO-s formed after 2 h in 5 vol% CO/25 vol% H2/Ar at 200 °C coupled with kinetic modeling (H-assisted CO hydrogenation) provided information regarding the relative reactivity (keff) for CH4 formation of the two kinds of linear-type adsorbed CO-s on the cobalt surface.

Number and intrinsic activity of cobalt surface sites in platinum promoted zeolite catalysts for carbon monoxide hydrogenation

A larger number and a more uniform distribution of cobalt sites with almost the same intrinsic activity results in higher carbon monoxide hydrogenation rate in the mordenite compared to ZSM-5 zeolite.