MRI: Acquisition of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry Equipment for Multiple Applications Emphasizing Research on Sustainable Fuels

jentoft：“该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。”这项建议是为了获得最先进的热分析和量热仪器，即热平衡器和热流量热计。通过耦合质量-质谱-傅里叶变换红外光谱仪（TG-MS-FTIR）将热平衡仪与逸出气体分析（EGA）相结合。该仪器是为在受控气氛下加热过程中的材料动力学特性而设计的。Calvet型热流量热计用于气固和液固吸附热的定量测量。该量热计系统包括一个气体体积计量单元，以及用于静态、流动和高压条件的反应池。总目标是将热分析和量热法应用于将生物质转化为燃料领域的一系列复杂科学问题。研究将从生物质原料的表征和生物质热解成热解（或生物）油的热分析开始。材料及其分解反应的复杂性要求热重仪与两种不同的气相分析方法（质谱和红外）相结合。另一种方法是用固体酸催化剂水解多糖。从热解（或水解）中得到的混合物的催化转化将需要开发具有良好酸碱性质的新型催化剂。测量反应物分子的吸附热和吸附动力学，将有助于确定合适的催化剂材料，并为模拟目标反应提供重要的热力学和动力学参数。申请人还将评估催化剂材料的亲水性（或疏水性），这在单一或多个液相中工作时很重要（如极性化合物向非极性化合物的转化）。催化领域的一个新贡献将是将吸附等温线和小分子的差热映射到与催化过程实际相关的高压范围内。

0923247Jentoft"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."This proposal is for the acquisition of state-of-the-art thermal analysis and calorimetry instrumentation, namely a thermobalance and a heat flow calorimeter. The thermobalance is combined with evolved gas analysis (EGA) by coupled mass and Fourier transform infrared spectrometers (TG-MS-FTIR). This instrument is designed for the characterization of materials dynamics during heating in a controlled atmosphere. The heat flow calorimeter of the Calvet type is for the quantitative measurement of heats of gas-solid and liquid-solid adsorption. The calorimeter system includes a gas volumetric dosing unit, and reaction cells for static, flow, and high pressure conditions. The overall goal is the application of thermal analysis and calorimetry to a sequence of complex scientific problems in the area of conversion of biomass into fuels. The research will start with the characterization of the biomass feedstock and the thermal analysis of the pyrolysis of biomass into pyrolysis (or bio-) oil. The complexity of the material and its decomposition reactions require the thermogravimetric apparatus to be combined with two different methods for gas phase analysis (MS and IR). Another approach is the hydrolysis of polysaccharides with solid acid catalysts. The catalytic conversion of the obtained mixture from the pyrolysis (or hydrolysis) will require the development of new catalysts with very well tuned acid-base properties. Measurement of the heats of adsorption of reactant molecules, and of the adsorption kinetics, will help identify suitable catalyst materials and will provide important thermodynamic and kinetic parameters for modeling the target reaction. The applicants will also assess the hydrophilicity (or hydrophobicity) of the catalyst materials, which is important when working in a single, or multiple liquid phases (as is likely in the conversion of polar to non-polar compounds). A novel contribution to the catalysis field will be to map the adsorption isotherm and the differential heats of small molecules into high pressure ranges that are actually relevant for the catalytic process.