Atomic Layer Deposition for Enhanced Reactivity and Stability of Biomass Conversion Catalysts

Conference · Tue May 26 00:00:00 EDT 2020

OSTI ID:1669433

McNeary, W. Wilson; Lahti, Gabriella; Unocick, Kinga; Tacey, Sean; Farberow, Carrie; Griffin, Michael; Van Allsburg, Kurt; Gump, Chris; Dameron, Arrelaine; Buechler, Karen; Watson, Mike; Vardon, Derek

Heterogeneous catalysts are an essential tool in the transition towards a sustainable, bio-based economy for fuels and chemicals. However, the harsh conditions (e.g., high temperatures, acidity, oxidizing/reducing environments) of many key biomass conversion processes give rise to nanoparticle sintering, support collapse, and metal leaching in conventional PGM catalysts. Active site poisoning due to the relatively high sulfur content of most biomass feedstocks further compounds these durability problems. Next-generation catalysts must be developed to address these stability challenges. In this work, we used a scalable atomic layer deposition (ALD) process to modify conventional Pd-based hydrogenation catalysts to generate significant performance improvements. TiO2 ALD coatings were found to increase the activity of Pd/Al2O3 catalysts towards naphthalene hydrogenation; additionally, these coatings improved the catalyst's resistance to sulfur poisoning and thermal stability under oxidative calcination. Additional work in which Al2O3 ALD coatings were applied to Pd/TiO2 catalysts for muconic acid hydrogenation found similar stability benefits, including improved resistance to Pd leaching in the acidic environment. ALD technology holds great potential in the development of next-generation catalysts for biofuels and bioproducts and this work constitutes an important examination of applying ALD coatings to supported Pd hydrogenation catalysts.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Bioenergy Technologies Office (EE-3B)
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1669433
• Report Number(s): NREL/PO-5100-76785; MainId:9446; UUID:ca63740a-ec24-49da-8412-9dba44cbef7f; MainAdminID:13638
• Conference Information: Presented at the 2020 [PALD] Summit, 21 May 2020, Louisville, Colorado
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ALD
biofuels
biomass
BIOMASS FUELS
bioproducts
catalyst
muconic acid