Process Development of Catalyst

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Alfa Chemistry Catalysts

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The main goal of the development stage is to determine the basic data required for industrialization: catalysts, reactor models, design standards, optimized process flow diagrams, etc. This phase is executed around the technical obstacles identified in the preliminary research conducted in the pre-development phase.

Services

Alfa Chemistry Catalysts provides customers with catalyst process development services, including but not limited to the following types:

• Catalyst development

Preparation of catalyst oxide carrier and optimization of catalyst formulation and performance evaluation. The development phase also includes performance aspects (activity, selectivity, product quality) and process requirements (ensure a longer cycle, resistance to pollutants and deactivation, resistance to operation accidents).

• Molecular modeling and advanced characterization

Molecular modeling and advanced characterization techniques can play an important role in every step of catalyst development, including support synthesis and active phase composition optimization.

Figure 1. The scheme of a simplified catalyst development.[1]

• Choice of reactor technology

Reactor technology and choice of reactor and process configuration

• Chemical and fluid power reactor engineering

Reaction kinetics and reactor modeling to determine the operating conditions for reliable operation of the reactor

• Process plan optimization

Heat integrated catalyst oxide support preparation, catalyst formulation optimization and performance evaluation, etc.

Why Choose Alfa Chemistry Catalysts?

Save Costs

• Less investment in equipment and technology
• Use the skills of our design, engineering, and materials science teams to supplement your existing team

Improve efficiency

• Screen all kinds of ideas to determine the best
• Delegate tasks to alfa chemistry catalysts to save time
• Pay more attention to R&D and commercialization

Research Case

• Modern supported catalysts have many advantages, such as high surface area, small amounts of active metal components that are usually expensive, and high mechanical and thermal stability. The optimization of the manufacturing steps can reduce the batch-to-batch difference, and it is possible to reduce the metal load in the catalyst, thereby reducing the production cost. General industrial catalyst manufacturing involves multiple process steps, as shown in the figure below.

Figure 2. Common processing steps in catalyst manufacturing.

• Molecular modeling studies provide relevant insights for determining the reactivity of acid sites in the crystal network. For example, in the case of silica-alumina, the acidity modeling of amorphous surfaces has been carried out. Molecular modeling studies show that the pseudo-bridged silanol as a multifunctional Bronsted acid group is obtained by the transfer hydrolysis of Si-O-Al bridges.

Figure 3. Displacement hydrolysis process of Si-O-Al bridges.[2]

References

1. Jean-François Joly. (2013). "Innovation in process development: From catalyst to industrial process", Catalysis Today 218-219: 153-161.
2. Céline Chizallet. (2009). "Pseudo-Bridging Silanols as Versatile Brønsted Acid Sites of Amorphous Aluminosilicate Surfaces" Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 48(16): 2891-2893.