Ru-BASED CATALYSTS FOR CONVERSION OF ETHANOL TO BUTANOL: EFFECT OF ACID-BASE AND REDOX PROPERTIES
| Main Authors: | Cimino, Lisi, Romanucci |
|---|---|
| Format: | Proceeding poster |
| Bahasa: | eng |
| Terbitan: |
, 2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: |
https://zenodo.org/record/3247684 |
Daftar Isi:
- Ethanol is currently the biggest liquid biofuel contributor worldwide, although problems associated with its use as fuel in internal combustion engines still remain related to water solubility and corrosivity. Ethanol can be valorised to higher alcohols, e.g., 1-butanol via catalytic route. Indeed, 1-butanol can be burned in the existing gasoline engines without practically any engine or car modifications, it has higher energy content and air-to-fuel ratio than ethanol and can be distributed via the existing pipelines for gasoline. Synthesis of higher alcohol from lower alcohol is generally known as the Guerbet reaction [1-3]. The mechanism of n-butanol synthesis from ethanol is considered to be an indirect process in which ethanol is converted to n-butanol via acetaldehyde [4]. A suitable combination of both acid and basic sites is considered a key-feature for an effective catalyst. Furthermore, addition of an active metal capable to provide hydrogenation/dehydrogenation properties might promote the initial dehydrogenation of the alcohol to form the carbonyl intermediate of the Guerbet coupling. In this work we set out to investigate the effect of acid-base properties of several supports such as hydroxyapatite, MgO, -Al2O3 and La-promoted gamma-Al2O3 on butanol production from ethanol. The effect of dispersion of small (≤1%) amounts of ruthenium from nitrosyl nitrate precursor was also studied and acid-base properties of the supports and redox properties of the noble metal were correlated to the catalytic performance. Catalytic tests were carried out in the temperature range 200-500°C by feeding an ethanol/N2 mixture to a lab-scale fixed bed reactor of powdered catalyst. Reactants and products were analysed by an online GC equipped with FI detector. Both supports and Ru-based catalysts were deeply characterized by XRD, N2 physisorption, H2 chemisorption, TGA, CO2 and NH3 TPD, H2 TPR. Highest butanol yields were associated to low ratio between acid and basic centres and to the easy reducibility of well dispersed ruthenium on high surface area supports. The work has been done in the framework of the research project Waste2Fuels ‘Sustainable production of next generation biofuels from waste streams’ (N. 654623) funded under the European Union’s research and innovation program Horizon 2020