Student Seminar Series (3S)

Date: May 13, 2022, 19:00-20:30 (ET), and 16:00-17:00 (PT)

Zoom URL: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwrd-CsqDsqHNXp5SABSz_YOa_XZnQvFQVL

Please contact Dr. J. Louise Liu at jingbo.liu@tamuk.edu or jingbo.liu@tamu.edu if interested in giving a talk. 

Direct Activation of Light Alkanes using Supported Metal Oxide Catalysts

Abstract: One of the most challenging aspects of modern-day catalysis is the conversion of methane. Direct conversion of methane via dehydroaromatization (MDHA) is a well-known process which can produce valuable hydrocarbons. Mo oxide supported on ZSM-5/MCM-22 has been studied extensively in recent years for MDHA. Mo carbides are responsible for activating methane by forming CHx species. These are dimerized into C2Hy and oligomerized on ZSM-5/MCM-22 Brønsted acid sites to form aromatics. Sulfated zirconia (SZ) supported Mo catalyst contains the acid sites necessary to produce benzene in MDHA. Here, sulfated hafnia (SH), a homologous oxide like SZ, has been proposed to provide the necessary acid sites as a novel support for Mo in MDHA. Conversion increased with higher temperature and lower space velocity and gradually deactivated with time. This can be attribute to catalytic surface coking, confirmed with subsequent TPO analysis. Benzene product selectivity increased with higher Mo loading, lower temperature and lower space velocity, while gradually decreasing with time. A direct comparison of conventional Mo/HZSM-5 synthesized here and under identical reaction conditions showed lower activity compared to the Mo-SH catalyst. To address catalytic coking and improve aromatics selectivity, several extensions of this project were carried out in this work. Additional of promoters like Pt, Cr, Pd to Mo-SZ catalysts showed improved benzene selectivity and overall activity of the modified catalysts. MDHA studies using group VIB metals (Cr, Mo, W) supported on SZ were also carried out to understand the effect of these active metals on SZ, which showed the superiority of Mo in terms of catalytic activity and benzene selectivity. Direct conversion of methane to C2 hydrocarbons using W/SZ is another demonstration of the versatility of this catalytic process. Additionally, Mo/SH was used to directly activate ethane and propane and selectively produce important industrial feedstocks like ethylene and propylene.

Speaker: Dr. Ashraf Abedin received his Ph.D. from the Cain Department of Chemical Engineering at Louisiana State University under the supervision of Professor James J. Spivey in 2021. He is currently working as Materials Research Engineer at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) in Morgantown WV. He completed his MS in Chemical Engineering from Louisiana State University in 2020 and finished his BS in 2016 from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology. During his Ph.D., Dr. Abedin worked on several collaborative DOE, NETL, NSF, Chevron funded projects to develop new approaches to test and characterize metallic alloy-based catalysts. Towards the end of his Ph.D., he worked as an R&D Co-Op in Novelis Global Research and Technology Center’s Surface Science division, where he collaborated with Novelis core engineering research teams to generate ideas, design experiments and meet project goals in a dynamic industrial training environment before he joined NETL Reaction Engineering research team in 2021. Dr. Abedin published 15+ peer-reviewed journal papers and presented his work in 25+ national & international conferences and successfully contributed to research proposals in several US-DOE projects. Besides research, he also mentored several graduate and undergrad students at LSU and helped them in publishing research works. He worked as Guest Editor for scientific journals including 'Catalysis Today' and co-organized multiple sessions in ACS National Meeting- Energy and Fuels (ACS-ENFL) division.

Ni-Pt/Al Nano-sized Catalyst Supported on TNPs for Hydrogen and Valuable Fuel Production from the Steam Reforming of Plastic Waste Dissolved in Phenol

Abstract: In this research, titanium nanoparticles (TNPs) for Ni-Pt/Al nano-sized catalysts were prepared via the hydrothermal technique, and their catalytic performance for the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) as plastic waste and phenol steam reforming reaction was examined. Complementary characterization methods, such as BET, ICP, TEM, XRD, FTIR, NH₃-TPD, H₂-TPR, CO₂-TPD, TGA, and CHNS, were conducted to relate surface functionality and structure to the activity of catalysts. The catalytic activity and stability with ten days on stream at 700 °C were investigated. It was found that the catalyst properties such as surface area and the number of acid sites play a crucial role in catalyst activity. The feed conversion and hydrogen yield for the optimum catalyst that is Ni-Pt/Ti-Al were found to be 92% and 75%, respectively. This research has also emphasized the opportunities of this method to resolve the threat of PET plastic waste to the environment concerning the creation of valuable fuels such as benzene, toluene, styrene, methylindene, etc.

Speaker: Dr. Walid Nabgan is the Postdoctoral Fellow in Chemical and Engineering School at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. His research focuses on micro and nanosized non-precious catalyst synthesis for hydrogen and liquid fuel generation from plastic waste and phenol. He completed his PhD from the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in 2017 and postdoctoral trainings at the Research institute of Petroleum Industry (RIPI) (2017-18) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (2019-Now). He is a research member of Centre of Hydrogen Energy, Institute of Future Energy since February 2012. In 2008, He ran an actual industrial project that later became my bachelor's degree final project for graduation. This was related to sulfur recovery. This project was conducted in Razi petrochemical company in Bandar Mahshahr city of Iran based on modeling and simulation data which later on implemented to solve the sulfur released into the atmosphere. During his postdoctoral in Iran, in 2017-2018, he was running an industrial project called "synthesis and characterization of suitable zeolite for naphtha reforming process". During with project, he dealt with the development of zeolite-based catalysts instead of conventional Alumina for petroleum industries. This project carried out in the Research Institute of Petroleum Industry (RIPI) in Iran.