Catalyst Carriers

Catalyst carriers are porous substrate materials which are basically made from metal and non-metal oxides such as alumina, rare-earth metal oxides, zirconia, silica and various other metals. Catalyst carriers promote the reaction by providing a controlled surface area with specific surface chemistry. And their properties are depended on the shape, size and overall composition. They are widely used in the chemicals and petrochemicals industries for refining liquids and gases into intermediate and end-use products.

Types of Catalyst Carriers

Catalyst carriers serve as media for the delivery of catalytic substances to facilitate chemical process. Common types of catalyst carriers include ceramics, activated carbon, and zeolites.

• Ceramic catalyst carriers

Ceramic catalyst carriers is the fastest-growing product type of the catalyst carriers' market. The growth is mainly attributed to their growing consumption in petroleum refining in catalytic cracking hydro-processing and catalytic reforming as a support material with the catalyst.

Ceramic catalyst carriers have numerous advantages, such as chemical inertness, excellent mechanical strength and stability, low surface profile, and bulk material uniformity. The most commonly used ceramic catalyst carriers are:

• Activated carbon catalyst carrier

Because of its advantages of large surface area, purity and relative hardness, activated carbon is an ideal carrier in leading catalyst manufacturers to produce noble metal and other heterogeneous catalysts.

Activated carbon catalyst carrier may bring: i) high dispersion of the active phase, ii)fast diffusion of reactants and products, iii) high durability to avoid active phase losses and to allow multiple rounds of re-use, iv) easy recovery of the metal phase by burning off the carbon.

• Zeolite carriers

There are about 40 naturally occurring tectosilicate minerals in zeolite group, while the chemical differentiation of zeolites is related to the ratio of SiO₂/Al₂O₃ and water content. Zeolites can be used as catalyst carriers due to their favorable physicochemical characteristics such as high adsorption capacity and specific surface, the cation exchange ability, and good biocompatibility.

Functions of Catalyst Carriers

Actually, the catalyst can be used alone. In cases where high demands are placed on the mechanical strength of the catalyst, carriers are necessary. Although the catalyst carriers do not generally have catalytic activity, they can

• Act as the skeleton of the catalysts to support the active component.
• Promote the dispersion of catalysts.
• Enhance the mechanical strength of catalysts.

Applications of Catalyst Carriers

Catalyst carriers play a very important role in a diverse set of applications, including:

Alfa Chemistry works together with our customer to develop the specifically required mold and then offer catalyst carriers in lab quantities up to large-scale production. For high quality products, professional technical service, and use suggestion, please feel free to contact us.