Moderating the activity of nickel and potassium catalysts for the gasification and activation of carbonaceous materials

催化剂是一种奇妙的物质，可以提高反应速度，控制化学反应中不受欢迎的产品的产生，对全球国内生产总值的贡献超过35%。催化剂用于90%以上的工业过程，通过降低操作条件的严酷程度和增加对所需产品的选择性，使过程更加节能和材料效率更高，从而减少对环境的影响。如果原料和催化剂是从石油焦和林业残渣等其他被视为废物的材料中获得，这些过程可以变得更加有效和可持续。然而，由于物种之间的相互作用是复杂的，利用废物可能会获得意想不到的结果。*本提案侧重于两个相关的过程，即气化和活化。气化用于将固体和液体转化为可进一步用于生产电力或其他化学品的气体，而活化则用于将含碳材料转化为用作吸附剂和催化剂载体的活性碳。在这两个过程中，起始材料(原料)中的碳被消耗以产生更多的多孔材料。在气化过程中，需要消耗尽可能多的原料，而在活化过程中，原料只发生部分转化，最终产品是多孔性固体碳，其表面积至少为每克几百米的平方。钾和镍都是很好的气化催化剂，钾催化剂在生产活性碳中得到了很好的应用。挑战在于催化剂可能会失活，而且生产的活性碳通常含有太小的孔，不适合大型碳氢化合物的反应。*在这项建议中，我想更好地了解如何通过引入改性剂(钒和钙等)来调节钾和镍催化剂与碳表面(石油焦或模型碳)之间的相互作用。以防止气化过程中的失活，并在活化过程中导致较大的气孔。在为工艺原料和催化剂选择和测试廉价的废物来源时，将应用这些相互作用的知识。使用这些非传统来源将在经济和环境可持续性方面都是有益的，因为材料正在被重复使用/回收，该过程将对所需产品具有高度选择性，并且过程能源需求将会减少。**

Catalysts are wonderful substances that enhance reaction rates, control the production of undesired products in chemical reactions, and contribute to over 35% of global gross domestic product. Used in over 90% of all industrial processes, catalysts reduce environmental impact by making the processes more energy and material efficient through the reduction of the severity of operating conditions and increased selectivity to the desired products, respectively. These processes can be made even more efficient and sustainable if the feeds and catalysts are obtained from materials that are otherwise viewed as waste, such as petroleum coke and forestry residues. Because the interactions between species are complex, however, unexpected results may be obtained by using wastes.***This proposal focuses on two related processes; namely, gasification and activation. Gasification is used to convert solids and liquids to gases that can be further used to produce power or other chemicals, while activation is used to convert carbonaceous materials into activated carbon for use as adsorbents and catalyst supports. During both processes, the carbon in the starting material (feed) is consumed to create a more porous material. In gasification, it is desirable to consume as much of the feed as possible, while in activation, only partial conversion of the feed occurs and the final product is a porous solid carbon with a surface area of at least several hundred metres squared per gram. Potassium and nickel are both excellent catalysts for gasification, and potassium catalysts are well used in the production of activated carbon. The challenges are that the catalysts can become deactivated and that the produced activated carbon often contains pores that are too small for the reaction of large hydrocarbons.***In this proposal, I would like to better understand how the interaction between potassium and nickel catalysts and a carbon surface (petroleum coke or model carbons) can be modulated by the introduction of modifiers (vanadium and calcium, etc.) to prevent deactivation during gasification and to result in larger pores during activation. Knowledge of these interactions will be applied when selecting and testing inexpensive, waste sources for the process feeds and catalysts. The use of these non-conventional sources will be beneficial in terms of both economic and environmental sustainability because materials are being reused/recycled, the process will be highly selective to the desired products, and the process energy requirements will be reduced.**