Characterisation of acidic/basic properties of alumina supports
Previous experience with the preparation and testing of Co/alumina catalysts for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis has revealed that, while commercial available aluminas result in materials of signiﬁcantly different catalytic performance, no correlation between the physical properties of the aluminas and the resulting catalytic performance was evident. Consequently, it was proposed that differences in the chemical (acid/base) nature of the alumina surfaces might be responsible for the observed differences in catalytic behaviour. In this study, isopropanol conversion was evaluated as a possible test reaction for characterisation of the acid/base nature of commercial aluminas - literature indicates acetone to result from isopropanol reaction on basic sites, and DIPE and propene products to result from isopropanol conversion over acid sites of varying strength.
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