Rallan C., Al-Rubaye R., Garforth A., 2015, Generation of Catalytic Films of Alumina and Zeolites on FeCralloy Rods, Chemical Engineering Transactions, 43, 907-912.
FeCralloy rods (0.5 mm thickness) were subjected to high temperature thermal oxidation to produce a metastable alumina phase. This structured layer acts as an anchor to bind additional coatings of alumina via washcoat techniques, thereby improving the layer thickness and increasing adhesion of the catalytic surface. In addition, thin films of structured zeolite catalysts (ZSM-5 and Zeolite Y) were grown onto the surface of a metal substrate using in-situ hydrothermal synthesis. All catalysts were fully characterised by SEM, EDX and XRD. The cracking of n-heptane over structured catalysts for both ZSM-5 and Zeolite Y showed very similar product selectivity compared with similar traditional pelleted catalyst forms. The alumina coated FeCralloy rods were impregnated with 1 wt. % platinum and tested in a fixed bed reactor to assess the impact on yield for the dehydrogenation of methylcyclohexane and compared with conventional 1 wt. % Pt/Al2O3 pellets. This paper demonstrates that structured catalysts can be manufactured with excellent alumina and zeolite adherence and when suitably activated/modified gives comparable catalytic results to the pelleted powder forms. These coated structured catalysts enhance temperature distribution in highly exothermic and endothermic catalysed processes in addition to improving the mass transfer properties of the reactor system.
