Carbon nanotubes (CNT) have gained interest for wide use as both support and catalyst due to the ease of uniquely tunable surface chemistry. Increasingly severe greenhouse effects have attracted attention to novel materials and technologies capable of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2). In this context, we develop a CNT based solid state amine for the CO2 capture. CNT are functionalized under various methods as a support for polymeric amines. Polyethyleneimine are physically adsorbed on CNT and are further characterized and studied for reversible CO2 capture. We obtain a high CO2 capture capacity (6.78 mmol∙g-1) for linear polyethyleneimine (LPEI) and 6.18 mmol∙g-1 for branched polyethyleneimine (BPEI). Based on the study of pore structure, we also demonstrate that in a steam post-combustion environment, supported polymeric amines on CNT show higher stability than traditional metal oxides. Besides the increased stability of the support in steam, we also improve the stability of amines under steam conditions by developing a covalent modification method. The CO2 capture capacity of the covalent bonded materials under steam conditions improved by 14% compared to dry conditions. In addition, the loading, chemical properties of PEI, and the surface chemistry of CNT remained stable under steam conditions compared to physically adsorbed PEI on CNT. These results suggest that covalent bonded PEI on CNT can be more suitable for CO2 capture in post-combustion processes. A different CNT application is as a catalyst for oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of ethane, and herein we develop a new processing technique for tuning the surface chemistry of the CNT-based catalyst. A one-step, gas-phase hydrogen (H2) surface modification is used to reduce carboxylic groups to phenolic groups on carbon nanotube (CNT) materials. This technique is greener and more facile for large-scale industrial catalysts than what has previously been reported. This method uses fundamental principles of CNT surface chemistry to efficiently reduce the unselective oxidation sites and enhances the active sites used for alkane oxidative dehydrogenation. The resulting catalyst improves the ethylene selectivity and yield by at most 81% and 28% respectively compared to the non-modified catalyst. A clear linear correlation between the functional groups and catalytic activity reveals the effect of specific oxygen species on performance. As the catalyst surface area increases, pretreatments generate more selective active sites instead of over-oxidation sites, providing a guideline for catalyst optimization. We suggest that the gas-phase H2 method is general for reducing carbon catalysts to increase selective oxidation sites for gas phase reactions.

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The Investigation of Nickel-Based Catalysts for the Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Ethane Justin Lane ParkDepartment of Chemistry & Biochemistry, BYU Doctor of Philosophy Chemistry The advancement of creating ethylene from ethane via oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) rather than the traditional direct dehydrogenation is right on the cusp of commercialization. The oxidative pathway provides a novel route that reduces the operating temperature of this reaction by 400-500°C. A variety of metals including Mo, V, and Ni that have redox properties suitable for the partial oxidation of small chain alkanes have been investigated. Currently, a MoVNbTe oxide is the most promising catalyst but it suffers from a long and difficult preparation method and the combination of four expensive metals. Nickel based catalysts have also shown great promise but are limited by the reactivity of the oxygen species on the surface of the catalyst. In this manuscript, the details for improving the activity of the nickel and altering the activation mechanism are outlined.Bulk CeNiNb oxide catalysts were shown to almost double the rate of ethylene yields at temperatures as low as 300°C. This is partially related to the improved rate of oxygen adsorption and transfer to the active oxygens on the nickel oxide via the ceria additive. However, with further characterization of these materials, it was shown that there is likely an interaction between the Ce and Nb, forming a Ce-O- Nb linkage that is also selective towards ethylene. This facilitates a higher activity of the catalyst by creating two redox active sites. The improved rates of ethylene formation observed with these catalysts led to the initial development of a commercially viable nickel based catalyst. The support interactions of NiO with a novel silica doped alumina support show higher yields than previously reported studies of NiO on alumina for ODH. These initial metal support interactions show that the addition of the niobium and ceria to this catalyst should give ethylene yields that are satisfactory for the commercialization of this catalyst.

This report deals with the mathematical model of the transient behaviour of an existing ethane dehydrogenation furnace which is composed of two main sections: a preheating convection section and a radiant-heated section. The correlation of pressure drop with time has been found from the available data. The fractional carbon deposition and the multiplier coefficient of a pressure drop equation have been determined by the direct search optimization technique of Hooke and Jeeves. An optimal policy for the cyclic operation of the furnace was determined by considering plant temperature profile and hydrocarbon/ steam ration as parameters for maximizing average ethylene produced per day. The effect of temperature profile on the distribution of carbon deposited along the reactor was also predicted and discussed. / Thesis / Master of Engineering (ME)

The reaction barrier and heat of formation of the various dehydrogenation reactions involved in the steam reforming of ethane is a critical concern in the applications and understanding of these reactions. Focusing on Ir-based catalyst, we report a comprehensive reaction network of dehydrogenation of ethane on Ir(100) based on extensive density functional theory calculations performed on 10 C-H bond cleavage reactions, utilizing the Vienna Ab Initio Package codes. The geometric and electronic structures of the adsorption of C2Hx species with corresponding transition-state structures is reported. We found that the C-H bond in CH3C required the most energy to activate, due to the most stable four-fold hollow adsorption site configuration. Ethane can easily dissociate to CH3CH and CH2CH2 on Ir(100) and further investigation of surface temperature dependence will contribute to the research effort in this area. By using the degree of dehydrogenation of the reactant species as a variable to correlate the C-H bond cleavage barrier as well as reaction energy. DFT studies reveal that the surface Ir(100) to a great extent promotes ethane dehydrogenation when compared to other surfaces.

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No description available.

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第23925号 / 工博第5012号 / 新制||工||1782(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科合成・生物化学専攻 / (主査)教授 村上 正浩, 教授 杉野目 道紀, 教授 中尾 佳亮 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第24639号 / 工博第5145号 / 新制||工||1983(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科合成・生物化学専攻 / (主査)教授 杉野目 道紀, 教授 中尾 佳亮, 教授 藤原 哲晶 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DGAM

Ethyl iodide and ethyl chloride have been used as reactants to produce ethyl fragments on the stoichiometric α-Cr₂O₃ (1012) surface by means of thermal dissociation. Ethyl iodide is dissociated giving iodine adatoms and ethyl fragments bound to surface Cr cation sites, while ethyl chloride is dissociated giving chlorine adatoms and ethyl fragments. No oxygenated products are observed in thermal desorption, suggesting the 3-coordinate lattice oxygen on the stoichiometric α-Cr₂O₃ (1012) surface is very stable, and no nucleophilic attack occurs at the carbon atoms on surface ethyl fragments. For both reactants, the only reaction products observed are ethylene gas (CH₂=CH₂), ethane gas (CH₃-CH₃), hydrogen gas (H₂) and halogen adatoms (Cl_ads or I_ads). In thermal desorption experiments, all the gas phase products from ethyl chloride are produced in a reaction-limited, high temperature desorption feature attributed to a rate limiting β-hydride elimination from surface ethyl fragments. Similar product desorption features are observed for the reaction of ethyl iodide. However, the reaction of ethyl iodide also produces ethylene and ethane via a low temperature, desorption-limited reaction channel. It is postulated that I adatoms produced in the reaction of ethyl iodide thermal desorption might somehow promote a low temperature route to products that Cl adatoms do not. / Master of Science