US-South Africa Cooperative Research: Studies of Phase Transformations in Fe Fischer-Tropsch Catalysts

该奖项支持新墨西哥大学（UNM）微工程材料中心Abhaya Datye和南非约翰内斯堡威特沃特斯兰德大学（WITS）化学系Neil Coville之间的合作研究项目。该项目将包括研究生的短期研究访问交换。研究人员计划研究费托合成（FT）的铁催化剂。这项工作将旨在克服催化剂失活和低活性等问题。在将催化剂置于几种不同的环境后，将使用x射线衍射、透射电子显微镜和其他表面分析进行详细的表征。反应器研究将同时进行，以确定催化剂制备对选择性的影响。Datye教授和Coville教授之前共同完成的工作提高了对FT催化剂中活性相性质的理解。在这次合作中，WITS小组将进行合成无机化学，原位穆斯堡尔光谱和反应器工作。新墨西哥大学小组将使用透射电子能谱和x射线衍射进行表征研究。他们还将参与催化材料的溶胶-凝胶合成。FT催化剂用于将煤衍生合成气转化为液体燃料。这一过程目前在南非被采用，如果以石油为基础的燃料变得更加稀缺，它在美国可能会变得更加重要。

This award supports a cooperative research project between Abhaya Datye, Center for Micro-Engineered Materials, University of New Mexico (UNM), and Neil Coville, Department of Chemistry, University of the Witwatersrand (WITS), Johannesburg, South Africa. The project will involve the exchange of graduate students for short-term research visits. The investigators plan to study iron catalysts for Fischer-Tropsch (FT) syntheses. The work will be aimed at overcoming problems such as catalyst deactivation and low activity. After subjecting catalysts to several different environments, detailed characterizations, using X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and other surface analyses will be performed. Reactor studies will be performed simultaneously to determine the effects of catalyst preparation on selectivity.Previous work performed jointly by Professors Datye and Coville led to improved understanding of the nature of the active phase in FT catalysts. In this collaboration the WITS group will perform the synthetic inorganic chemistry, in-situ Mossbauer spectroscopy, and the reactor work. The UNM group will carry out characterization studies using transmission electron spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. They will also be involved in sol-gel synthesis of the catalyst materials. FT catalysts are used to convert coal-derived synthesis gas to liquid fuels. This process is currently employed in South Africa and could become more important in the United States if petroleum-based fuels become scarcer.