Atomistic Processes of Catalyst Degradation
The purpose of this cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) between Sasol North America, Inc., and the oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) was to improve the stability of alumina-based industrial catalysts through the combination of aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) at ORNL and innovative sample preparation techniques at Sasol. Outstanding progress has been made in task 1, 'Atomistic processes of La stabilization'. STEM investigations provided structural information with single-atom precision, showing the lattice location of La dopant atoms, thus enabling first-principles calculations of binding energies, which were performed in collaboration with Vanderbilt University. The stabilization mechanism turns out to be entirely due to a particularly strong binding energy of the La tom to the {gamma}-alumina surface. The large size of the La atom precludes incorporation of La into the bulk alumina and also strains the surface, thus preventing any clustering of La atoms. Thus highly disperse distribution is achieved and confirmed by STEM images. la also affects relative stability of the exposed surfaces of {gamma}-alumina, making the 100 surface more stable for the doped case, unlike the 110 surface for pure {gamma}-alumina. From the first-principles calculations, they can estimate the increase in transition temperature for the 3% loading of La used commercially, and it is in excellent agreement with experiment. This task was further pursued aiming to generate useable recommendations for the optimization of the preparation techniques for La-doped aluminas. The effort was primarily concentrated on the connection between the boehmitre-{gamma}-Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} phase transition (i.e. catalyst preparation) and the resulting dispersion of La on the {gamma}-Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} surface. It was determined that the La distribution on boehmite was non-uniform and different from that on the {gamma}-Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} and thus apparently La dispersion happened simultaneously with the boehmite-{gamma}-Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} phase transition. It was further discovered that oxygen, moisture, or the combination thereof are crucial in achieving optimal La dispersion and desired thermal stabilization. Finally, several samples were studied as a part of task 2, 'Study of organophilic modification of aluminas', and determined that the high vacuum environment of the STEM removes all the organic ligands from the alumina surface and thus needed to be studied in a different instrument able to handle pressures closer to ambient.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 940219
- Report Number(s):
- ORNL02-0638; TRN: US200824%%235
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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