Catalyst Support Essay

Catalyst support is a material in which it is a solid form whereby the catalyst is attached to it in order to support the catalyst by increasing the surface area. Catalyst support shall not be confused with supported catalyst as these two terms are of different meanings. Supported catalyst is a catalyst in which it is supported by the catalyst support made of inert metal material in the form of granules or pellets with a high adhesion property. Catalyst support functions like an adsorbent where as the supported catalyst acts like an adsorbate.

Catalyst support must have a certain properties in order to enhance the catalytic activity. Thus in order to choose the most suitable support material it must have the certain physical and chemical properties. Among the properties are the catalyst support must be stable under reaction and regeneration condition, have high porosity for the mass and heat transport to be efficient and allow easy diffusion in and out , possess large surface area to increase the activity and distribution of the active components, ability to sustain and retain mechanical stability at high temperatures to prevent abrasion and increase durability of the catalyst on the support, possess high heat capacity and thermal conductivity in order to prevent the heat of adsorption igniting the powdered metal, and must be inert but reactive material.

What are the functions of the catalyst support? The main functions are the such that it increases the surface area of the active component. By increasing the surface area, more active sites are generated which will increase the efficiency of the catalyst enhancing the catalytic activity. When the support material is of large surface area such as activated carbon, discrete crys...

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...nding on the type of raw materials used, the conditions of crystallization, zeolite crystallinity degree and the desired composition. After that, the crystallized zeolite is separated using rotary vacuum filters and washed with water. These zeolites then undergo few treatments to convert it into catalytic acitve material. The NaY zeolite is exchanged with ammonium ions to get rid of the sodium ions in an ionic exchange tanks which is then filtered out and sprayed with the exchange solution. The excess salts on the exchanged zeolites are removed by washing it. During hydrothermal treatment of the zeolite, it is partially dealmuninated and stabilized and the sodium ions that remains is moved to exchangeable position. The degree of dealumination and unit size of the product is determine through calcination conditions to obtain the microcrystallize product of zeolite.