No abstract

Unsupported cobalt catalysts promoted with barium (symbol Co/Ba), cerium (Co/Ce) or both (Co/Ce/ Ba) were synthesized and tested in ammonia synthesis at 6.3 MPa. The Ba-free Co and Co/Ce oxide forms of the catalysts were prepared by precipitation/co-precipitation and a subsequent calcination at 500°C. The Co and Co/Ce powders were impregnated with an aqueous solution of barium nitrite. Nitrogen physisorption and H 2 chemisorption measurements revealed that cerium and barium play the role of structural promoters, which hinder the sintering of cobalt oxide during calcination and stabilize the surface of cobalt under reduction conditions. It seems that barium also modifies the surface of the active phase, i.e., cobalt. The kinetic studies of NH 3 synthesis have shown that the co-promoted material (Co/Ce/Ba) is about 2-3 times more active than the system doped with barium (Co/Ba) and more than ten times as active as that with Ce. At 400°C and at low conversion (1% NH 3 ), the ammonia synthesis rate (TOF) over Co/Ce/Ba proved to be almost 60% as high as that obtained for the commercial iron catalyst (KMI, H. Topsøe) commonly used in ammonia plants all over the world. Moreover, at the same temperature and a high ammonia concentration (8%) the co-promoted cobalt catalyst is over two times more active than the fused iron catalyst. Another asset of the cobalt catalyst is its high thermal stability.

No abstract

The introduction of a halide (Br, I) onto MgO leads to obtaining catalysts whose catalytic activity in transfer hydrogenation of acrolein with ethanol is significantly higher than that of unmodified MgO. In data found in literature, there is no concise view on how the modification of the surface of MgO with a halide affects its surface properties. Although most of the literature studies indicate a dependence of activity on the initial halide‐containing compound and type of halide, no study comprising both these aspects has been performed. The aim of the present study was to conduct measurements of MgO modified with two halides and with two types of initial halide‐containing compounds with surface‐sensitive techniques to determine how each of these factors influences the surface properties of the catalyst. Titration experiments showed that all of the modified catalysts have a smaller diversity of basic site strengths than unmodified MgO. They also revealed that for all studied systems, the modification of the surface leads to the formation of Brønsted acidic sites, which MgO does not possess. XPS spectra indicate that bromine‐modified catalysts give a broader range of surface species than the appropriate iodine‐modified ones. Moreover, they showed that in the case of both iodine‐modified and bromine‐modified catalysts, the one that exhibited the higher concentration of the appropriate halogen on the surface showed a lower activity in catalytic transfer hydrogenation of acrolein with ethanol. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract There is a strong need for transformative sanitation systems in the areas of the world where open defecation habits and/or inadequate sewage treatment methods and facilities exist. This paper describes an innovative thermally efficient solid waste treatment process as a basis for an off-the-grid, non-sewered toilet in order to address this need. Human feces are combusted in a continuous-cyclic manner using two stages of smoldering and catalytic oxidation. It has been shown that thermal coupling of the two stages creates a self-sustained reactor that can combust wet fecal material containing up to 3.2 parts water to 1 part dry matter – equivalent of water content in healthy human feces – without the need for external heating, known as the ultimate challenge in direct combustion of human feces. Furthermore, it has been shown that air flow rate can be reliably used as a controlling mechanism for fecal destruction rate which means the same reactor could be operated for various and varying input rates. The present work demonstrates the potential for manufacturing low-cost, low-energy consuming sanitation systems that are more easily accessible to communities in need of such systems.