Produção de eteno a partir de etanol utilizando aluminas

Abstract

Calcination variables, temperature, time and heating rate, used in obtaining different transition aluminas were simultaneously investigated using statistical experimental design. Empirical models correlating catalyst final properties and calcination conditions were employed. It was found that all calcination variables play fundamental roles on acidity of alumina catalyst. Furthermore, interaction effects among these variables and non-linear effects also are of fundamental importance for the final properties catalyst. Therefore, the use of simultaneous variation of calcination conditions through experimental design is of great importance in detecting such interactions. It was observed that the use of high heating rates favor the formation of pore with larger diameters and with high pore volume and, for short calcination time, high heating rate also contributes to the formation of higher concentration of acid sites. The acid sites characterization of transition aluminas were performed by temperature programmed desorption of ammonia (NH3-DTP), which showed that there are two distinct acid sites on the surface these materials. The desorption dates were adjusted by a model in which the catalyst bed was considered as single continuously stirred tank reactor and the intrinsic kinetic was chosen to be of first order for adsorption and desorption. The ethanol conversion was higher for the alumina with higher acid sites concentration, suggesting a relationship between the activity of the alumina for the ethanol conversion and its acidity. The selectivity for the ethylene formation also was higher for the more acid aluminas, while the selectivity to ether presented opposite behavior. Therefore, a successful control of all calcination conditions can be an effective method to adjust the final physical and chemical properties of transition alumina catalyst, aiming the highest yield of ethylene from ethanol dehydration.