Author: ["Sharon Mitchell","Nina-Luisa Michels","Karsten Kunze","Javier Pérez-Ramírez"]
CITE.CC academic search helps you expand the influence of your papers.
Abstract
A major challenge in the implementation of laboratory-designed catalysts is the scale-up into technically relevant forms. Advanced characterization is essential to understand and optimize catalyst assembly and function in industrial reactors. This Article presents an integrated approach to visualizing millimetre-sized extrudates and granules of a hierarchical MFI-type zeolite, displaying trimodal networks of micropores (0.56 nm), intracrystalline mesopores (∼10 nm) and macropores (∼200–300 nm). As exemplified for the conversion of methanol to olefins, the hierarchical zeolite yields a superior performance compared to its conventional analogue. The combination of dedicated specimen preparation with state-of-the-art optical, X-ray and electron-based microscopic and tomographic techniques proves a powerful methodology to reveal otherwise inaccessible information regarding structural organization over the whole range of length scales. It is expected that these tools will play a crucial role in the rationalization of scale-up principles in catalyst development. Understanding the nature of complex zeolite particles, used as catalysts in industrial reactors, is vital for their further development. Now, an integrated approach to visualizing granules of a hierarchical MFI-type zeolite, on length scales from nanometres to millimetres, is reported. Cite this article
Mitchell, S., Michels, NL., Kunze, K. et al. Visualization of hierarchically structured zeolite bodies from macro to nano length scales. Nature Chem 4, 825–831 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.1403 