Alcohol synthesis using metal phosphides
department or school: Applied Science, Faculty of
department or school: Chemical and Biological Engineering, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Imbault, Alexander Luis
issued: 2015-06-01T17:22:11Z
issued: 2015
related degree: Master of Applied Science - MASc
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Biofuels make up to 10wt% of gasoline sold in the United States of America and Canada, the largest portion of these biofuel additives is ethanol. Past research working with MoP/SiO₂ using syn gas (H₂:CO 1:1) as a feed have shown how an effective oxygenate catalyst can be promoted with K to become more selective towards ethanol. In this thesis, various metal phosphide catalysts including CoP, Co₂P, RuP and Fe₂P (all supported on SiO₂) are investigated using molecular modelling and activity tests with syn gas to find an effective oxygenate catalyst which can be understood and ultimately converted into an effective ethanol catalyst. Molecular modelling is performed on metal phosphide catalysts to determine the CO adsorption strengths of several metal phosphide catalysts. The correlation between the adsorption energies and oxygenate formation is then examined. Fe₂P is shown to be a catalyst of interest for its ability to create sizable amounts of methanol and other oxygenates, and it has a moderate CO adsorption strength. The second focus of this thesis is on the effects of passivation on two metal phosphide catalysts, MoP/SiO₂ and Ni₂P/SiO₂. This is investigated through measuring H₂ uptake during TPR and CO uptake during CO chemisorption after different passiviiation techniques. The results of these measurements finds that Ni₂P/SiO₂ and MoP/SiO₂ react very differently after being kept out of contact with air, passivated in a low flow of O₂ or being exposed to ambient air after reduction.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/53655
note: Alcohol Synthesis Using Metal Phosphides by Alexander Luis Imbault B. Sc., McMaster University, 2011 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF APPLIED SCIENCE in The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (Chemical and Biological Engineering) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) May 2015 © Alexander Luis Imbault, 2015 ii Abstract Biofuels make up to 10wt% of gasoline sold in the United States of America and Canada, the largest portion of these biofuel additives is ethanol. Past research working with MoP/SiO2 using syn gas (H2:CO 1:1) as a feed have shown how an effective oxygenate catalyst can be promoted with K to become more selective towards ethanol. In this thesis, various metal phosphide catalysts including CoP, Co2P, RuP and Fe2P (all supported on SiO2) are investigated using molecular modelling and activity tests with syn gas to find an effective oxygenate catalyst which can be understood and ultimately converted into an effective ethanol catalyst. Molecular modelling is performed on metal phosphide catalysts to determine the CO adsorption strengths of several metal phosphide catalysts. The correlation between the adsorption energies and oxygenate formation is then examined. Fe2P is shown to be a catalyst of interest for its ability to create sizable amounts of methanol and other oxygenates, and it has a moderate CO adsorption strength. The second focus of this thesis is on the effects of passivation on two metal phosphide catalysts, MoP/SiO2 and Ni2P/SiO2. This is investigated through measuring H2 uptake during TPR and CO uptake during CO chemisorption after different passiviiation techniques. The results of these measurements finds that Ni2P/SiO2 and MoP/SiO2 react very differently after being kept out of contact with air, passivated in a low flow of O2 or being exposed to ambient air after reduction. iii Preface All of the work presented henceforth was conducted in the Department of Chemical a…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2015-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0166286
language: eng
degree discipline: Chemical and Biological Engineering
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/53655