Article,
Tailored monolith supports for improved ultra-low temperature water-gas shift reaction
Affiliations
- [1] CSIC Consejo Super Invest Cient, Madrid, Spain [NORA names: Spain; Europe, EU; OECD];
- [2] Friedrich Alexander Univ Erlangen Nurnberg, Lehrstuhl Chem Reakt Tech, Egerlandstr 3, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany [NORA names: Germany; Europe, EU; OECD];
- [3] Tech Univ Denmark, Dept Chem, Ctr Catalysis & Sustainable Chem, Bldg 207, DK-2800 Lyngby, Denmark [NORA names: DTU Technical University of Denmark; University; Denmark; Europe, EU; Nordic; OECD]
Abstract
Supported ionic liquid-phase (SILP) particulate catalysts consisting of Ru-complexes dissolved in an ionic liquid that is dispersed on a gamma-alumina porous substrate facilitate the water-gas shift (WGS) reaction at ultra-low temperatures. In this work, a screening of different ceramic support materials was performed to design a suitable monolithic support to disperse the SILP system with the objective of scaling up the WGS process efficiently. gamma-Alumina-rich channeled monoliths were developed with the use of natural clays as binders (10 wt% bentonite and 20 wt% sepiolite) with the following properties: i) high volume of mesopores to maximize the catalyst loading and successfully immobilize the ionic liquid-catalyst system via capillary forces, ii) mechanical resistance to withstand the impregnation process and the reaction operating conditions, and iii) surface chemistry compatible with a highly active and selective phase for WGS. The developed monolithic-SILP catalyst demonstrated high stability and long-term WGS performance at 130 degrees C with an average steady-state CO conversion of around 30% after 190 h time-on-stream (TOS) and a conversion of 23% after 320 h TOS. Interestingly, the catalyst activity proved essentially unaffected by variation in the water partial pressure during operation due to accumulation of water in the monolith, thus making the system highly durable.