2020 Virtual undergraduate Research symposium

Mesoporous microspherical nickel oxide catalysts for the deoxygenation of oleic acid to heptadecane


PROJECT NUMBER: 18

AUTHOR: Courtney Smoljan, Chemical and Biological Engineering | MENTOR: Moises Carreon, Chemical and Biological Engineering

 

ABSTRACT

With growing concerns about greenhouse gas emissions, the production of environmentally friendly fuel sources has been a significant field of research in the past years. Through decarboxylation reactions of lipid-based biomass over a noble metal catalyst, fuel-grade hydrocarbons can be produced. There have been growing reports of the use of non-noble metal porous catalysts for this reaction. Herein, we report the synthesis of mesoporous nickel oxide catalyst by surfactant assisted self-assembly to be used in the deoxygenation of oleic acid to heptadecane. To assess the effect of pore size on the product distribution, two structure directing agents, Pluronic P123 and CTAB, were employed during synthesis. The catalysts synthesized with P123 yielded 63% heptadecane, displaying three times the yield to heptadecane as compared to commercial NiO. Catalysts synthesized with CTAB yielded nearly 12% heptadecane. The recyclability of the P123 catalyst was also assessed. The catalysts were characterized with powder x-ray diffraction (PXRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and nitrogen physisorption isotherms to determine pore size and crystallinity. The coke accumulation on the spent catalysts was quantified with thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).

 

VISUAL PRESENTATION

 

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2017/cy/c7cy00564d#!divAbstract

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jctb.6211

 

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Courtney is a junior in chemical engineering from Niwot, CO. She has worked in Dr. Carreon’s group for two years focusing on developing, characterizing, and testing catalysts for biomass conversion to leverage new bioresources. Courtney interned at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in 2019, where she conducted research on durability of nuclear waste glasses and has accepted an offer to intern at National Renewable Energy Laboratory this summer. There, she will work on a project involving hierarchical catalysis that could be useful for pyrolysis of biomass. Courtney hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in chemical engineering, focusing on catalysis upon her graduation from Mines.

 


2 Comments

  1. Awesome!

  2. Great presentation! You have worked hard on this project and this is evidenced in the quality of work!

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