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Page RESEARCH DIRECTOR:
Enrique Iglesia, Professor of Chemical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley and Faculty Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory
SUMMARY:
This project explores the potential use of sulfur compounds as stoichiometric hydrogen acceptors during activation of light alkanes on cation-exchanged zeolites. This kinetic coupling would increase alkane dehydrogenation and aromatization rates by providing alternate hydrogen removal pathways and also lead to in-situ desulfurization processes that avoid the explicit use of H2. Our research examines the interactions of thiophenic compounds, the predominant S-compounds in the gasoline-range products of catalytic cracking, with protonic and Lewis acid sites in pentasil and faujasite zeolites using in-situ infrared methods in the presence of hydrogen sources such as light alkanes or H2. These studies are combined with microreactor and infrared studies of isotopic exchange reactions between thiophenic compounds or H2S and deuterated alkanes in order to establish the reactions paths of thiophenic sulfur compounds during reactions of alkanes on zeolitic acids. Specifically, we aim to establish the role of adsorption sites, metal cations, and hydrogen transfer intermediates in the generation of H2S during catalytic cracking reactions. Other stoichiometric hydrogen scavengers will also be tested in attempts to relieve hydrogen disposal bottlenecks in alkane dehydrogenation by coupling these reactions in-situ with hydrogenation reactions. Our studies will explore the reactions of molecular hydrogen acceptors such as CO, CO2, light alkenes, and aromatics during dehydrocyclodimerization of ethane and propane. This research may contribute to higher rates of thiophenic sulfur removal and of light alkane conversion during catalytic cracking reactions.
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Last Updated 10/29/98.