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

0923247 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。“这项建议是购置最先进的热分析及量热仪器，即热天平及热流量热计。热天平与通过耦合质谱和傅里叶变换红外光谱仪（TG-MS-FTIR）的逸出气体分析（EGA）相结合。该仪器设计用于在受控气氛中加热过程中表征材料动力学。卡尔维型热流量热计用于定量测量气-固和液-固吸附热。量热计系统包括气体体积计量单元和用于静态、流动和高压条件的反应池。总体目标是将热分析和量热法应用于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装置与两种不同的气相分析方法（MS和IR）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）获得的混合物的催化转化将需要开发具有非常好地调节的酸碱性质的新催化剂。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，并将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），这在单液相或多液相中工作时是重要的（如在极性化合物向非极性化合物的转化中可能的）。对催化领域的一个新的贡献将是将吸附等温线和小分子的微分热映射到实际上与催化过程相关的高压范围内。

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.