MRI: Development of an Instrument for Testing Catalytic Aerogel Materials

该提案将资助联合学院机械工程和化学跨学科团队开发先进的模块化工程测试平台。联合催化试验台（UCaT）将由一个气体混合系统、一个催化反应器和一个气体传感系统组成，它将为这个跨学科小组提供进行催化气凝胶材料（CAM）性能实验的能力，这是目前不可能的，因为没有商业上可用的仪器或系统具有应用所需的能力，并且对本科院校来说经济可行。气凝胶材料独特的物理性质，包括高表面积、低密度和良好的热稳定性，为用作汽车催化剂提供了显著的优势。联合学院的研究人员已经开发出一种新型的快速超临界萃取（RSCE）工艺来制造气凝胶，并令人信服地证明，使用RSCE工艺可以很容易地制造各种类型的气凝胶，粉末RSCE镍-氧化铝气凝胶具有三向催化剂（TWCs）的活性，并且RSCE气凝胶可以浇铸在当前催化转化器技术中使用的支撑结构上。UCaT的建设将使该小组能够大大扩展其研究，提供在实际最终使用条件下测试cam催化能力的能力，以促进cam的发展并支持并行的基础工作。

This proposalwill fund an interdisciplinary team in Mechanical Engineering and Chemistry at Union College to develop an advanced modular engineering testbed. The Union Catalytic Testbed (UCaT), which will consist of a gas mixing system, a catalytic reactor and a gas sensing system, will provide this interdisciplinary group with the capability to undertake experiments in catalytic aerogel material (CAM) performance that are currently not possible, because there are no commercially available instruments or systems that have the required capabilities for the application and are economically feasible for an undergraduate institution. The unique physical properties of aerogel materials, including high surface area, low density and good thermal stability, offer significant advantages for use as automotive catalysts. The Union College researchers have developed a novel rapid supercritical extraction (RSCE) process for fabricating aerogels, and have demonstrated convincingly that a variety of types of aerogels can be readily fabricated using the RSCE process, that powdered RSCE nickel-alumina aerogels show activity as three-way catalysts (TWCs), and that RSCE aerogels can be cast onto support structures used in current catalytic converter technology. Construction of UCaT will allow the group to significantly extend its research, providing the capability to test the catalytic ability of CAMs under realistic end-use conditions, in order to facilitate the development of CAMs and support parallel fundamental work.