Aero-Sol-Gel Amorphous Mixed Oxides for Epoxidation Catalysts

该项目的目的是确定空气-溶胶-凝胶（ASG）工艺是否可以用于生产纳米结构的混合氧化物粉末，用于催化应用。这个探索性项目旨在证明在烯烃的简单液态反应中使用ASG混合氧化物作为环氧化催化剂。合成非晶态二氧化钛和氧化钒二氧化硅催化剂；类似的催化剂已经通过溶液溶胶-凝胶法生产出来。对于气溶胶，两种通常不混溶的化学成分可以通过蒸汽流的共冷凝而被迫进入液滴的限制，并且在环境条件下处理是可行的。主要的颗粒尺寸，比表面积，体积密度，和骨料尺寸以及组成的操作是预期的。混合氧化物将通过质谱法根据二氧化钛含量进行表征。催化剂将通过红外分析来表征，以估计钛-氧-硅键合的存在。动力学研究将基于辛烯环氧化的良好表征。计划与固特异化学进行非正式合作。如果成功，这项工作可能会带来一种新的方法，通过廉价的途径生产固体催化剂。

The objective of this project is to determine whether the aero-sol-gel (ASG) process can be used to produce nano-structured, mixed-oxide powders for catalysis applications. This exploratory project is aimed at demonstrating use of ASG mixed oxides as epoxidation catalysts in simple, liquid-state reactions of olefins. Amorphous titania-silica and vanadium oxide-silica catalysts will be synthesized; similar catalysts have already been produced by a solution sol-gel process. With aerosols, two normally immiscible chemical components can be forced into the confinement of a droplet by co-condensation of vapor streams, and processing under ambient conditions is feasible. Manipulation of primary particle size, specific surface area, bulk density, and aggregate size as well as composition is anticipated. Mixed oxides will be characterized in terms of titania content through mass spectroscopy. Catalysts will be characterized by infrared analysis to estimate the presence of titanium-oxygen-silicon bonding. Kinetic studies will be based on the well-characterized epoxidation of octene. Informal collaboration with Goodyear Chemical is planned. If successful, this work could lead to a new method for producing solid catalysts by an inexpensive route.