Achievements and Innovation
MAIN SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS:
Microwave irradiation synthesis method for the obtaining of inorganic materials, in particular nano powders of transitional metals carbides and borides has been developed. The obtained materials, especially some of the carbides have shown high catalytic activity in different chemical reactions. Some of the borides are super hard materials.
Molybdenum and tungsten carbides with nickel atoms (Ni-Mo2C), (Ni-WC), and Mo2C-Al2O3 embedded in the lattice were synthesized. The composition of the obtained catalysts was confirmed using modern physicochemical methods of analysis.
The systems obtained were studied in the model reaction of hydrazine decomposition. Our partners from the Faculty of Chemistry of Moscow State University tested these systems as catalysts for reactions of isomerization and in the hydrogenation reactions of model mixtures of organic substrates: olefins, aromatic, sulfur-containing compounds. The activity of catalysts during hydrodesulfurization of a real hydrocarbon fraction (thiophene and dibenzothiophene) of straight-run diesel fractions with different initial sulfur contents was studied as well. The experiments showed that the obtained systems have high catalytic activity in the reactions with using hydrogen.
Nano-sized powders of metals (Fe, Ni, Co) and their alloys (Fe-Co, Ni-Co), and also tungsten carbide were synthesized by a plasmomechanochemical method.
It was shown that the nanoscale powder of the Ni-Co alloy synthesized by the plasmomechanochemical method is an active and selective catalyst for the methane dry reforming. The regeneration of this catalyst with hydrogen at a temperature of 400°C for several hours leads to the restoration of its original activity.
The catalytic activity of tungsten carbide (WC) and a mixture of tungsten carbides (WC + W2C) obtained by mechanochemical and plasma-mechanochemical methods in the reaction of carbon dioxide methane conversion was studied. It was shown that tungsten carbide nano-powders obtained by the plasma-mechanochemical method have a higher catalytic activity than the catalyst obtained by the mechanochemical method. It was also established that with a decrease in particle size, the activity of the catalyst obtained by the plasma-mechanochemical method increases. It has been established that materials having the same dispersion but synthesized by different methods can have different physicochemical and, accordingly, catalytic properties.
The efficiency of using ultrasonic vibrations was shown, both during the plasmochemical synthesis of tungsten carbide and during the regeneration of the WC/carrier catalyst, deactivated in the cyclohexane dehydrogenation reaction.
It was shown that natural zeolites - clinoptilolites can serve as inexpensive and accessible effective carriers for the preparation of supported catalysts for deep oxidation of methane, methanol, carbon monoxide, etc.
Amorphous nano-sized powders of molybdenum, tungsten, copper and other metals have been synthesized by the plasmomechanochemical method. It was shown that copper and molybdenum catalysts deposited on Al2O3 show a high activity in the process of methanol to formaldehyde conversion.
In order to obtain high-quality inexpensive catalysts for oil component reforming, nanosized molybdenum (α-Mo2C) and tungsten (α-W2C) carbides with an average particle size of 17 nm and a surface area of about 70 m2/g have been synthesized. Nanosized carbides show high catalytic activity and stability in the dehydrogenation of cyclohexane to form benzene (S = 100% with conversion 90%) and dehydrocyclization of n-heptane to toluene (S = 30% with conversion 80%).
The experiments showed that the use of powders of copper and copper oxide enables to oxidize ethanol and acetone in air atmosphere up to 90% conversion into CO2 and H2O.
The pyrolysis and oxidative pyrolysis of propane was studied. New approaches to the conjugated oxidation of light hydrocarbons into olefins - propylene and butylenes are proposed and experimentally investigated. It was shown that the introduction of methane into the initial ethylene-oxygen mixture increases the yield of propylene. It was found that the introduction of ethylene into the initial propane-oxygen mixture significantly increases the yield of propylene and butylenes. At this, the process can be organized so that ethylene is practically not consumed in it, i.e. acts as a homogeneous catalyst. This opens the prospect of creating a selective process for the production of propylene directly from propane.
INNOVATION ACTIVITY: