2006 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Skeletal isomerization of n-butane under supercritical conditions
| Project/Area Number |
17560682
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Catalyst/Resource chemical process
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| Research Institution | Sophia University |
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Principal Investigator |
SEGAWA Kohichi Sophia University, Department of Chemistry, Professor, 理工学部, 教授 (60053675)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
FUNAMOTO Takako Sophia University, Department of Chemistry, Research Associate, 理工学部, 助手 (90384172)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2005 – 2006
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| Keywords | Green engineering / Chemical catalyst process / Functional structural materials / Supercritical fluid |
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| Research Abstract |
Light isoalkanes have high octane numbers and are widely used as the blendstock for the green gasoline. Sulfated zirconia is a strong solid acid catalyst and is efficient for isomerization of n-alkane. To promote its catalytic activity, I prepared sulfated zirconia-alumina by addition of aluminum, which is a highly electronegative atom, to its surface with a co-precipitation technique. I also investigated the effect of Al on its activity and acidity, and tested the isomerization reaction of the alkanes under supercritical conditions of reactant molecules. However, most of the solid catalysts including sulfated zirconia have a problem of rapid deactivation due to the coke formation. In this research, I applied super critical conditions of reactant molecules because the conditions result in lower viscosity and higher diffusibility. Addition of Al into sulfated zirconia suppressed the crystallization and the phase transition to monoclinic. Al addition to zirconia structure caused the structural strain leading to retarding the phase transitions and improving the thermal stability. IR and XPS results suggested that the enhancement of positive charges on Zr atoms strengthens those acidic sites because of the high electron negativity of Al. Under the supercritical condition, the deactivation was well suppressed, and the higher activity was maintained. Especially for below 5 mol% alumina-added, sulfated zirconia showed the higher catalytic activity for isomerization of n-alkane.
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Research Products
(4 results)
