Applied Catalysis

A major thrust of the Department of Chemical Engineering is in applied catalysis research. Applied catalysis research is being conducted in three general areas: fuel reforming, solid acid catalysis, and dense catalytic membranes. Much of the applied catalysis research is carried out under the auspices of the O.H. Reaugh Laboratory for oil and gas processing and the various projects that are funded by DOD, DOE, NSF, and various industrial companies.

Now that fuel cells are close to becoming a commercial reality, the need for producing hydrogen fuel from more readily available sources is of paramount importance. We are currently engaged in studies of catalytic processes to produce hydrogen from ammonia, methanol, methane, gasoline, and heavier hydrocarbons including diesel oil and jet fuel. These "fuel reforming" studies involve the utilization of standard catalysts as well as the choice of operating conditions which will insure long-term catalyst life at optimal hydrogen producing conditions.

In the general area of solid acid catalysts, two specific projects are gasoline alkylation and the production of olefins from methanol. In an attempt to replace conventional liquid-phase alkylation with a gas-phase process capable of converting butanes into octanes, we are employing solid acid catalysts derived from pillared molecular sieves. The goal is to synthesize the proper acidity and pore structure to achieve high selectivities at temperatures above 50 C. This project also involves supercritical catalysis in order to avoid or minimize catalyst deactivation. Both SAPO and ZSM5 zeolites are being employed to study the effect of mixing on the olefin selectivity in the methanol-to-olefins (MTO) project. By using both an ideal PFR and an ideal CSTR, we are characterizing the reaction pathways in these two extreme mixing states and the resulting effect on coke deposition and olefin selectivity.

In the area of catalytic membranes, dense perovskite membranes which are capable of selective oxygen permeation, are being employed to study the partial oxidation of C1-C3 hydrocarbons, and in particular, the oxidative coupling of meth-ane (OCM) to ethane and ethylene. These thick (2-4 mm) membranes are characterized in terms of their oxygen transport capabilities and are then combined with known OCM catalysts to improve selectivities and reaction rates.

Participating Faculty
Bill Thomson, Professor
509 335-8580

Recent Publications
A. Chellappa, C. Fischer, and W.J. Thomson, "The Kinetics of Ammonia Decomposition at High Ammonia Concentrations", submitted to Appl. Catal. A, (2001).

A. Chellappa, R.C. Miller, and W.J. Thomson, "Supercritical Alkylation and Butene Dimerization over Sulfated Zirconia and Iron-Manganese Promoted Sulfated Zirconia", Applied Catalysis A: General, 209 (1-2), 359 (2001).

R.B. Gore, and W.J. Thomson, "Pulsed Gas-Phase Alkylation of Isobutane/2-Butene over Sulfated Zirconia", Appl. Cat. A, 168, 23 (1998).

S. Xu, and W.J. Thomson, "Ion-Conducting Perovskite Membranes for the Oxidative Coupling of Methane", A.I.ChE.J, 43, 2731 (1997).