Homogeneous catalysts are widely used in industrial chemical processes for the production of long chain alcohols and aldehydes, which can then be used as feedstock for other chemical processes. This production process has several disadvantages as it involves several process steps and because the expensive precious noble metals in the catalysts have to be carefully recovered. An alternative way to produce long chain alcohols is by using a heterogeneous catalyst which adds hydrogen to carbon monoxide, employing catalysts made of earth abundant metals such as cobalt or iron. Such technology plays a major role in the petrochemical industry where the interest is in the production of long-chain hydrocarbons. There has been less application when it comes to the production of long chain oxygenated hydrocarbons. While it is known that different metals have different catalytic properties, the rational design of catalysts which can produce mostly useful products with minimum production of side-products remains a major challenge in industrial laboratories. However, recent research findings have shown that the heterogeneous catalysis route can in fact be a 'one-step, one-pot' process with no risk of valuable noble metal loss. This award, made to Professors Norbert Kruse and Jean-Sabin McEwen in the Center for Catalysis at Washington State University, aims at providing the essential scientific basis for the design of catalysts with superior catalytic activity and performance for the production of long-chain oxygenates from carbon monoxide. The implications of such a process are especially important in terms of closing the cost gap between chemical products that are traditionally based on fossil fuels and those which could be based on carbon monoxide instead. The PIs will also establish a partnership with the Phillips 66 Company Ferndale, WA refinery, where undergraduate and graduate students will be given the opportunity to meet with the company's representatives so as to discuss their project results, visit the company's production site and, consequently, understand industrial-scale and commercial implications of their work.
The targeted design of catalysts for long-chain oxygenate production via the Fischer Tropsch technology becomes possible by using oxalate co-precipitation of metal precursors as developed in the laboratories Washington State. This preparation technique involves all metal components in a single step, so no classical support material is needed. Relative amounts of metal precursors can be straightforwardly varied so as to tune the composition for selective oxygenates production via CO hydrogenation. Catalysts will be comprised of Co and Cu metal functions, of the Co core-Cu shell structures. Microkinetic data as provided in combined chemical transient kinetics and density functional theory calculations will include a 'surface atom counting' of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen at any instant until steady state conditions are reached. Energy profiles for bimetallic CoCu particles on various oxide surfaces at high surface coverages will be performed and correlated to the transient kinetic data so as to optimize the high pressure CO hydrogenation process to long-chain oxygenates. It is anticipated that these research efforts will lead to a new generation of catalysts for selective C8-14 oxygenates production.
