• 097743 - PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF CATALYTIC MATERIALS

The aim of course is to provide skills and knowledge for the comprehension and quali-quantitative analysis of catalytic processes used in the industrial chemistry, environmental protection, energetic field and others. In particular, after a general introduction on the industrial heterogeneous catalysis and catalysts, this part of the course will deal with the preparation and characterization of catalytic materials. 

To promote teaching internationalization and to offer students the opportunity of different teaching methods, collaborative class will be activated involving prof. Edd Anders Blekkan from Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). With this proposal, PoliMi students should attend NTNU seminars for at least 1 CFU.

At the end of this part of course the students should:

Understand and apply core principles and concepts in heterogeneous catalysis.

Know the most important catalytic materials, and describe their functions.

Identify all the steps in the preparation method of a catalytic materials, related to specific cheractistics in the final product.

Plan and choose methods for characterization of key properties of catalytic materials.

The modules are given as lectures, seminars, excercises, laboratory activities, self-study.

Industrial catalysis: introduction to historical data on industrial catalytic processes, relevance of today's industrial catalysis and catalyst market, stages involved in the development of a catalytic process, perspectives and future developments of catalysis.

General characteristics of heterogeneous catalysts: role of a catalyst in a chemical reaction, properties of industrial catalysts, homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, components of heterogeneous catalysts, crystal structures of heterogeneous catalysts.

Catalyst preparation: general overview of the preparation method for bulk catalysts and supports. Theory and practice of (co)-precipitaion, impregnation, sol-gel methods, and of other preparation methods. Unit operation (i.e. filtration drying, calcination...) for the preparation of heterogeneous catalysts will be considered.

Chemico-physical characterization of catalysts: General aspects on the characterization of bulk and supported catalysts. Morphological characterization: specific surface area and pore distribution. Adsorption techniques for the catalyst characterization: physical and chemical adsorption, models for adsorption isotherms, experimental techniques for the adsorption study. Spectroscopic and thermal techniques for the catalyst characterization: FTIR, Laser-Raman, UV-Vis, TG-DTA, DSC, XRD, EPR, SEM, TEM, ecc.. Chemical characterization: TPD, TPO, TPR, TPSR, ecc..

No pre-requisites are required

The final exam will be an orale and it must allow the student to:

• demonstrate that he has acquired a correct approach to the catalyst preparation methods

• be able to choose the best preparation method related to the characteristic in the final catalyst

• apply methods and tools to correctly characterize the catalytic materials