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The aim of this project is development of new catalysts for methanol synthesis
with higher activity than that of the commercially available ones. An
improvement of such catalysts would have remarkable practical impact,
because not only is methanol an important chemical intermediate for several
industrial processes, but it is also a promising energy vector. Being
liquid, it can be easily transported and stored, and it can be obtained
from a variety of raw materials, including natural gas, biomass and waste.
Historically, heterogeneous catalysts have been developed by empirical,
qualitative methods. Only in the last few years, the converging progress
of computational chemistry, surface science and nanoscience were able
to fill the gap between the theory and the experiments, getting closer
to the ambitious target of designing catalysts with predictable reactivity.
This project aims at making this possibility a fact in the case study
of methanol synthesis, by implementing bimetallic (core-shell or alloy)
catalysts from the DFT calculations to the final powder composite, with
all the intermediate steps of development and characterization, such as
the growth of model single crystals and structured nanoparticles, their
adhesion onto a porous support, and their characterization by physical,
spectroscopic and chemical techniques.
Due to its widespread interdisciplinary character, this project involves
the participation of two research units beside the Nano-Femto-Lab: one
group at INRS, lead by prof. Dongling Ma, and one in Trieste, Italy (prof.
R. Rosei); Enerkem, a company strongly interested in catalysis innovation,
is also involved.
Within this frame, Stefano is in charge of the catalytic and chemical
characterization of the catalyst in a close to applicative form and condition,
in a laboratory scale: i. e. the measurement of the reactivity and the
chemical properties of supported nanoparticles-based composites, and the
catalytic performance of the supported nanoparticles composite.
For this purpose, Stefano designed and implemented a catalytic test station
at INRS, constituted of a gas mixer, a reactor and a gas chromatographic
analyzer. The apparatus allows investigating the catalytic properties
of the composites in powder or granular form, evaluating their activity
and selectivity and comparing them to the commercial benchmark, besides
performing temperature programmed reductions (TPR) in hydrogen, and treatments
in oxidizing or reducing atmosphere.
Stefano's previous experience also involves characterizations of heterogeneous
catalysts for soot combustion and water gas shift reaction, synthesis
and characterization of inorganic composite support for catalysis, development
of anodes for solid oxide fuel cells, and chemistry of modified natural
polymers.
Journal Publications:
R. Di Monte, P. Fornasiero, S. Desinan, J. Kašpar, J.M. Gatica, J.
J.Calvino, E. Fonda, “Thermal Stabilization of CexZr1–xO2
Oxygen Storage Promoters by Addition of Al2O3: Effect of Thermal Aging
on Textural, Structural, and Morphological Properties” Chemistry
of Materials 16 (2004), 4273-4285.
S. Desinan, M. Miyayama, and E. Traversa “Nanostructured Ceria-Zirconia
as a Promising Anode Component for IT-SOFC: Synthesis and Characterization”
Electrochemical Society Transactions 3 (2006) 173-187.
Patents:
Di Monte, R., Kaspar, J., and Desinan, S., inventors. Magnesium Electron
Ltd., assignee. Thermally stable doped and undoped porous aluminium oxides
and nanocomposite CeO2-ZrO2 and Al2O3 containing mixed oxides. Publication
number: WO2006070203. Publication date: July 06, 2006.
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