In recent years an emphasis has been placed on the development of alternative and clean energy sources to reduce the global use of fossil fuels. One of these alternatives entails the use of H2 as an energy carrier, which can be obtained amongst others using thermochemical processes, for example the hybrid sulphur process (HyS). The HyS process is based on the thermal decomposition of sulphuric acid into water, sulphur dioxide and oxygen. The subsequent chemical conversion of the sulphur dioxide saturated water back to sulphuric acid and hydrogen is achieved in an electrolyser using a platinum coated proton exchange membrane. This depolarised electrolysis requires a theoretical voltage of only 0.158 V compared to water electrolysis requiring approximately 1.23 V. One of the steps in the development of this technology at the North-West University, entailed the establishment of the platinum coating technology which entailed two steps; firstly using newly obtained equipment to manufacture the membrane electro catalyst assemblies (MEA’s) and gas diffusion electrodes (GDE’s) and secondly to test these MEA’s and GDE’s using sulphur dioxide depolarized electrolysis by comparing the manufactured MEA’s and GDE’s to commercially available MEA’s and GDE’s. Different MEA’s and GDE’s were manufactured using both a screen printing (for the microporous layer deposition) and a spraying technique. The catalyst loadings were varied as well as the type and thickness of the proton exchange membranes used. The proton exchange membranes that were included in this study were Nafion 117®, sPSU-PBIOO and SfS-PBIOO membranes whereas the gas diffusion layer consisted of carbon paper with varying thicknesses (EC-TP01-030 – 0.11 mm and EC-TP01-060 – 0.19mm). MEA and GDE were prepared by first preparing an ink that was used both for MEA and GDE spraying. The MEA’s were prepared by spraying various catalyst coatings onto the proton exchange membranes containing 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 mg/cm2 platinum respectively. The GDE’s were first coated by a micro porous carbon layer using the screen printing technique in order to attain a suitable surface for catalyst deposition. Using the spraying technique GDE’s containing 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 mg/cm2 platinum were prepared. After SEM analysis, the MEA’s and GDE’s performance was measured using SO2 depolarized electrolysis. From the electrolysis experiments, the voltage vs. current density generated during operation, the hydrogen production, the sulphuric acid generation and the hydrogen production efficiency was obtained. From the results it became clear that while the catalyst loading had little effect on performance there were a number of factors that did have a significant influence. These included the type of proton exchange membrane, the membrane thickness and whether the catalyst coating was applied to the proton exchange membrane (MEA) or to the gas diffusion layer (GDE). During SO2 depolarized electrolysis VI curves were generated which gave an indication of the performance of the GDE’s and MEA’s. The best preforming GDE was GDE-3 (0.46V @ 320 mA/cm2), which included a GDE EC-TP01-060, while the best preforming MEA’s were NAF-4 (0.69V @ 320mA/cm2) consisting of a Nafion117 based MEA and PBI-1 (0.43V @ 320mA/cm2) made from a sPSU-PBIOO blended membrane. During hydrogen production it became clear that the GDE’s produced the most hydrogen (best was GDE-02 a in house manufactured GDE yielding 67.3 mL/min @ 0.8V), followed by the Nafion® MEA’s (best was NAF-4 a commercial MEA yielding 57.61 mL/min @ 0.74V) and the PBI based MEA’s. , (best was PBI-2 with 67.11 mL/min @ 0.88V). Due to the small amounts of acid produced and the SO2 crossover, a significant error margin was observed when measuring the amount of sulphuric acid produced. Nonetheless, a direct correlation could still be seen between the acid and the hydrogen production as had been expected from literature. The highest sulphuric acid concentrations produced using the tested GDE’s and MEA’s from this study were the in-house manufactured GDE-01 (3.572mol/L @ 0.8V), the commercial NAF-4 (4.456mol/L @ 0.64V) and the in-house manufactured PBI-2 (3.344mol/L @ 0.8V). The overall efficiency of the GDE’s were similar, ranging from less than 10% at low voltages (± 0.6V) increasing to approximately 60% at ± 0.8V. For the MEA’s larger variation was observed with NAF-4 reaching efficiencies of nearly 80% at 0.7V. In terms of consistency of performance it was shown that the Nafion MEA’s preformed most consistently followed by the GDE’s and lastly the PBI based MEA’s which for the PBI based membranes can probably be ascribed to the significant difference in thickness of the thin PBI vs. the Nafion based membranes. In summary the study has shown the results between the commercially obtained and the in-house manufactured GDE’s and MEA’s were comparable confirming the suitability of the coating techniques evaluated in this study. / MSc (Chemistry), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

In recent years an emphasis has been placed on the development of alternative and clean energy sources to reduce the global use of fossil fuels. One of these alternatives entails the use of H2 as an energy carrier, which can be obtained amongst others using thermochemical processes, for example the hybrid sulphur process (HyS). The HyS process is based on the thermal decomposition of sulphuric acid into water, sulphur dioxide and oxygen. The subsequent chemical conversion of the sulphur dioxide saturated water back to sulphuric acid and hydrogen is achieved in an electrolyser using a platinum coated proton exchange membrane. This depolarised electrolysis requires a theoretical voltage of only 0.158 V compared to water electrolysis requiring approximately 1.23 V. One of the steps in the development of this technology at the North-West University, entailed the establishment of the platinum coating technology which entailed two steps; firstly using newly obtained equipment to manufacture the membrane electro catalyst assemblies (MEA’s) and gas diffusion electrodes (GDE’s) and secondly to test these MEA’s and GDE’s using sulphur dioxide depolarized electrolysis by comparing the manufactured MEA’s and GDE’s to commercially available MEA’s and GDE’s. Different MEA’s and GDE’s were manufactured using both a screen printing (for the microporous layer deposition) and a spraying technique. The catalyst loadings were varied as well as the type and thickness of the proton exchange membranes used. The proton exchange membranes that were included in this study were Nafion 117®, sPSU-PBIOO and SfS-PBIOO membranes whereas the gas diffusion layer consisted of carbon paper with varying thicknesses (EC-TP01-030 – 0.11 mm and EC-TP01-060 – 0.19mm). MEA and GDE were prepared by first preparing an ink that was used both for MEA and GDE spraying. The MEA’s were prepared by spraying various catalyst coatings onto the proton exchange membranes containing 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 mg/cm2 platinum respectively. The GDE’s were first coated by a micro porous carbon layer using the screen printing technique in order to attain a suitable surface for catalyst deposition. Using the spraying technique GDE’s containing 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 mg/cm2 platinum were prepared. After SEM analysis, the MEA’s and GDE’s performance was measured using SO2 depolarized electrolysis. From the electrolysis experiments, the voltage vs. current density generated during operation, the hydrogen production, the sulphuric acid generation and the hydrogen production efficiency was obtained. From the results it became clear that while the catalyst loading had little effect on performance there were a number of factors that did have a significant influence. These included the type of proton exchange membrane, the membrane thickness and whether the catalyst coating was applied to the proton exchange membrane (MEA) or to the gas diffusion layer (GDE). During SO2 depolarized electrolysis VI curves were generated which gave an indication of the performance of the GDE’s and MEA’s. The best preforming GDE was GDE-3 (0.46V @ 320 mA/cm2), which included a GDE EC-TP01-060, while the best preforming MEA’s were NAF-4 (0.69V @ 320mA/cm2) consisting of a Nafion117 based MEA and PBI-1 (0.43V @ 320mA/cm2) made from a sPSU-PBIOO blended membrane. During hydrogen production it became clear that the GDE’s produced the most hydrogen (best was GDE-02 a in house manufactured GDE yielding 67.3 mL/min @ 0.8V), followed by the Nafion® MEA’s (best was NAF-4 a commercial MEA yielding 57.61 mL/min @ 0.74V) and the PBI based MEA’s. , (best was PBI-2 with 67.11 mL/min @ 0.88V). Due to the small amounts of acid produced and the SO2 crossover, a significant error margin was observed when measuring the amount of sulphuric acid produced. Nonetheless, a direct correlation could still be seen between the acid and the hydrogen production as had been expected from literature. The highest sulphuric acid concentrations produced using the tested GDE’s and MEA’s from this study were the in-house manufactured GDE-01 (3.572mol/L @ 0.8V), the commercial NAF-4 (4.456mol/L @ 0.64V) and the in-house manufactured PBI-2 (3.344mol/L @ 0.8V). The overall efficiency of the GDE’s were similar, ranging from less than 10% at low voltages (± 0.6V) increasing to approximately 60% at ± 0.8V. For the MEA’s larger variation was observed with NAF-4 reaching efficiencies of nearly 80% at 0.7V. In terms of consistency of performance it was shown that the Nafion MEA’s preformed most consistently followed by the GDE’s and lastly the PBI based MEA’s which for the PBI based membranes can probably be ascribed to the significant difference in thickness of the thin PBI vs. the Nafion based membranes. In summary the study has shown the results between the commercially obtained and the in-house manufactured GDE’s and MEA’s were comparable confirming the suitability of the coating techniques evaluated in this study. / MSc (Chemistry), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Stringent pollutant regulations on diesel-powered vehicles have resulted in the development of new technologies to reduce emission of nitrogen oxides (NOx). The urea Selective Catalyst Reduction (SCR) system and Lean NOx Trap (LNT) have become the two promising solutions to this problem. Whilst the LNT results in a fuel penalty due to periodic regeneration, the SCR system with aqueous urea solution or ammonia gas reductants could provide a better solution with higher NOx reduction efficiency. This thesis describes an experimental investigation which has been designed for comparing the effect NOx abatement of a SCR system with AdBlue urea spray and ammonia gas at 5% and 4% concentration. For this study, a SCR exhaust system comprising of a diesel particulate filter (DPF), a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) and SCR catalysts was tested on a steady state, direct injection 1998 cc diesel engine. It featured an expansion can, nozzle and diffuser arrangement for a controlled flow profile for CFD model validation. Four different lengths of SCR catalyst were tested for a space velocity study. Chemiluminescence (CLD) based ammonia analysers have been used to provide high resolution NO, NO2 and NH3 measurements across the SCR exhaust system. By measuring at the exit of the SCR bricks, the NO and NO2 profiles within the bricks were found. Comparison of the measurements between spray and gas lead to insights of the behaviour of the droplets upstream and within the SCR bricks. From the analysis, it was deduced that around half to three quarters of the droplets from the urea spray remain unconverted at the entry of the first SCR brick. Approximately 200 ppm of potential ammonia was released from the urea spray in the first SCR brick to react with NOx. The analysis also shows between 10 to 100 ppm of potential ammonia survived through the first brick in droplet form for cases from NOx-matched spray input to excess spray. Measurements show NOx reduction was complete after the second SCR bricks. Experimental and CFD prediction showed breakthrough of all species for the short brick with gas injection due to the high space velocity. The long brick gas cases predictions gave reasonable agreement with experimental results. NO2 conversion efficiency was found higher than NO which contradicts with the fast SCR reaction kinetics. Transient response was observed in both cases during the NOx reduction, ammonia absorption and desorption process. From the transient analysis an estimate of the ammonia storage capacity of the bricks was derived. The amount of ammonia slippage was obtained through numerical integration of the ammonia slippage curve using an excel spreadsheet. Comparing the time constant for the spray and gas cases, showed a slightly faster time response from the gas for both NOx reduction and ammonia slippage.

As demands for alternative sources of energy increase over the coming decades, water electrolysis will play a larger role in meeting our needs. The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) component of water electrolysis suffers from slow kinetics. An efficient, inexpensive, alternative electrocatalyst is needed. We present here high-activity, low onset potential, stable catalyst materials for OER based on a hierarchical network architecture consisting of Fe and Ni coated on carbon fiber paper (CFP). Several compositions of Fe-Ni electrodes were grown on CFP using a hydrothermal method, which produced an interconnected nanosheet network morphology. The materials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Electrochemical performance of the catalyst was examined by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV). The best electrodes showed favorable activity (23 mA/cm², 60 mA/mg), onset potential (1.42 V vs. RHE), and cyclability. / text

<p>Samples of SCR catalysts were impregnated with the following alkali salts; KCl, K2SO4 and ZnCl2 at two different concentrations in a wet impregnation method. The activities of the six samples were measured in a test reactor and at different temperatures between 250-350 ºC. Compared to fresh catalyst, the impregnated samples all had lower activity. It seems like KCl is the most poisoning salt, depending on the lowest value of the activity. The experimental results are expected as compared to earlier articles, which reports that all alkali salts has deactivating effects on a catalyst and that KCl is among the most poisoning ones. By making a cross-section SEM analysis, the penetration of the metals at different depths in to the catalyst material wall was evaluated. An ICP-AES analysis was carried out in order to see the concentration of K and Zn of the test samples. Finally, the pore diameter and active surface was measured by BET method. Since the values of the active surface didn’t change compared to a fresh catalyst and the pore diameter was only slightly decreased we can suppose that the alkali salts deactivates the catalyst by coating of the catalyst pore structure and not as a pore blocking.</p>

A spark ignition engine was retrofitted to operate on biogas fuel. Biogas was synthetically generated through the mixing of various pure gases. The air-fuel ratio was accurately controlled using a closed feedback system consisting of flow controllers and a wide range oxygen sensor. A natural gas catalytic converter was implemented with the use of biogas fuel. To achieve full NOx and CO reduction the engine was required to run at a slightly rich equivalence ratio. Methane emissions posed to be the hardest to reduce across the catalyst. The biogas fuel composition had no effect on the catalyst performance. The catalyst performance was only affected by exhaust temperature and equivalence ratio. The catalyst requires tight A/F ratio control for optimal performance. A Catalytic converter can be used to reach low emissions but requires the knowledge of the biogas fuel composition.

A spark ignition engine was retrofitted to operate on biogas fuel. Biogas was synthetically generated through the mixing of various pure gases. The air-fuel ratio was accurately controlled using a closed feedback system consisting of flow controllers and a wide range oxygen sensor. A natural gas catalytic converter was implemented with the use of biogas fuel. To achieve full NOx and CO reduction the engine was required to run at a slightly rich equivalence ratio. Methane emissions posed to be the hardest to reduce across the catalyst. The biogas fuel composition had no effect on the catalyst performance. The catalyst performance was only affected by exhaust temperature and equivalence ratio. The catalyst requires tight A/F ratio control for optimal performance. A Catalytic converter can be used to reach low emissions but requires the knowledge of the biogas fuel composition.

Naftos krekinge naudotas katalizatorius yra ceolitinė medžiaga, kurios unikalios savybės mažai išnaudojamos cementinių medžiagų gamybos technologijoje. Ugniai atspariuose betonuose naudojami įvairūs priedai-modifikatoriai yra labai brangūs, todėl naudoto katalizatoriaus panaudojimas, kaip modifikuojančio betono savybes priedo, turi ne tik ekologinį (atliekų utilizavimas) bet ir ekonominį pagrindą. Vykdant šį darbą sukurti vidutinio cemento kiekio ugniai atsparūs šamotbetoniai su 70 % ir 40 % aliuminio oksido turinčiais aliuminatiniais cementais ir naudoto katalizatoriaus priedu atitinkamai 2,5 % ir 5,0 %. Darbe taip pat atskleistas efektyvus katalizatoriaus poveikis aliuminatinio cemento hidratacijai, cemento akmens struktūros susidarymui kietėjimo metu ir jos pokyčiams veikiant aukštoms temperatūroms. / Fluidized bed catalytic cracking catalyst waste is a zeolite material. Its unique properties are underused in cementitious materials production technology. Various additives, modifiers used in refractory castables are very expensive, so the use of catalyst waste as a modifying additive of castable properties has not only an ecological (waste recycling) but also an economical basis. Medium cement refractory castable was developed using 70 % and 40 % of aluminium oxide containing aluminate cement and catalyst waste additive, respectively 2,5 % and 5,0 %. The work also reveals an efficient effect of catalyst waste on alumina cement hydration, structure formation during cement solidification and after treatment at high temperature.

The maximum theoretical energy efficiency of fuel cells is much larger than those of the steam-power-turbine cycles that are currently used for generating electrical power. Similarly, direct hydrocarbon fuel cells, DHFCs, can theoretically be much more efficient than hydrogen fuel cells. Unfortunately the current densities (overall reaction rates) of DHFCs are substantially smaller than those of hydrogen fuel cells. The problem is that the exchange current density (catalytic reaction rate) is orders of magnitude smaller for DHFCs. Other work at the University of Ottawa has been directed toward the development of polymer electrolytes for DHFCs that operate above the boiling point of water, making corrosion rates much slower so that precious metal catalysts are not required. Propane (liquefied petroleum gas, LPG) was the hydrocarbon chosen for this research partly because infrastructure for its transportation and storage in rural areas already exists. In this work nickel based catalysts, an inexpensive replacement for the platinum based catalysts used in conventional fuel cells, were examined using density functional theory, DFT. The heats of propane adsorption for 3d metals, when plotted as a function of the number of 3d electrons in the metal atom, had the shape of a volcano plot, with the value for nickel being the peak value of the volcano plot. Also the C-H bond of the central carbon atom was longer for propane adsorbed on nickel than when adsorbed on any of the other metals, suggesting that the species adsorbed on nickel was less likely to desorb than those on other metals. The selectivity of the propyl radical reaction was examined. It was found that propyl radicals

M. Tech. (Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology): Vaal University of Technology / The arylation and alkenylation of alkenes under the influence of a palladium catalyst, commonly referred to as the Heck reaction, has been extensively exploited by synthetic chemists since its debut in the late 1960’s. A traditional Heck coupling is based on an aryl iodide or bromide as the electrophilic partner and a terminal alkene as the nucleophilic partner. Academic and industrial interest in this reaction has increased in recent years, fueled by the development of more active catalyst systems, the discovery of waste-free versions, and the desire to put the vast empirical data on a sound mechanistic basis. In this study, we wish to report the use of commercially available substituted pyrazolones (1-(4-Sulfophenyl)-3-methyl-5-pyrazolone (L1), 1-(2,5-Dicloro-4-sulfophenyl)-3-methyl-5-pyrazolone (L2) and 5-oxo-1-phenyl-2-pyrazolin-3-carboxylic acid (L3)) and pyrazoles (α-[(2-Ethoxy-2-oxoethoxy)imino]-3-pyrazole acetic acid (L4) and 3.5 dimethyl pyrazole (L5)) as auxiliary ligands in the Heck coupling reaction. These ligands were used either with PdCl2 or Pd(OAc)2 to catalyze the Heck reaction of iodobenzene with ethyl acrylate or butyl acrylate. GC-MS was used to monitor the reaction, percentage (%) conversions were determined based on the consumption of iodobenzene. Different reaction parameters such as ligands, temperature, base, solvent and influence of time were investigated. It was observed that the lower conversion was obtained for ethyl acrylate and conversions above 80% were obtained for butyl acrylate. Ligand effect proved to be very crucial during the Heck coupling reactions of iodobenzene with butyl acrylate and ethyl acrylate. For instance in the absence of ligands with PdCl2, the conversions were 29 % and 44 % for butyl acrylate and ethyl acrylate, respectively. When Pd(OAc)2 was used in the absence of ligands the conversions were 25 % and 36 % for butyl acrylate and ethyl acrylate, respectively. In the study for the effect of temperature, 80 ◦C was observed as the best temperature since promising conversions were obtained with little or no sign of deactivation of the catalysts. On the other hand, increasing the temperature to 120 ◦C and above high percent conversions are observed; however deactivation of the catalysts occurs as observed from the precipitation of palladium black at the bottom of the vial. From the results obtained it is clear that pyrazolone and pyrazole ligands/palladium systems are important at very low catalyst loadings and mild temperatures. Based on the employed reaction conditions the influence of base suggested that the organic base triethylamine was the reagent of choice since better conversions were obtained compared to inorganic bases. The inhomogeneity of the inorganic base proved to be a disadvantage in the reaction of iodobenzene with butyl acrylate at employed reaction conditions. It was also found that parameters such as solvents and time effects were important in the Heck reaction. Polar aprotic solvents proved to be solvents of choice rather than non-polar solvents, from the investigated solvents DMF gave better conversions under the used reaction conditions giving average conversions of 78 % and 75 % for all the ligands in the presence of PdCl2 and Pd(OAc)2, respectively. During the investigation of time effect, it was noteworthy to observe that L4 had a slow initiation rate, for instance after 0.5 h conversions of 2 % and 10 % were obtained for catalytic systems, PdCl2 and Pd(OAc)2 respectively. Also it was observed that under the investigated parameters there was no need to run the reaction for 24 h because after 4 h not much of a difference in conversions was observed. In comparing the influence of these two different auxiliary ligands, pyrazolone based ligands were more efficient than pyrazole based ligands under the investigated parameters. The fully detailed information supporting this has been discussed in Chapter 4.