FISCHER- TROPSCH SYNTHESIS ON FUNCTIONALIZED CARBON NANOTUBES

Author

Sewa Pokhrel, Southern Illinois University CarbondaleFollow

Date of Award

5-1-2014

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Mechanical Engineering

First Advisor

Mondal, Kanchan

Abstract

The aim of this research was to investigate the role of chemical functionalization on carbon nanotubes surfaces and its effect on FT catalysis. Multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) were first treated with acid (HCl) to remove the residual metal particles and were then functionalized using H2O2 and HNO3 to introduce oxygen-containing groups to the MWNT surface. These treatments also add defects on MWNT surface. Morphological analyses were performed on the MWNT samples with TEM and it was found that the peroxide and acid treated MWNTs showed an increase oxygen functional groups and created additional surface defects on the MWNTs. Results of FT experiments showed enhanced CO conversion, FT activity and product selectivity towards liquid hydrocarbons due to functionalization. The liquid selectivity was found to be significantly high for H2O2 treated catalyst. HNO3 treated catalyst had highest activity although selectivity to methane and CO2 was found higher than the H2O2 treated catalyst. It was observed that the chemical treatments increase the carbon chain length of the produced hydrocarbons. While comparing hydrocarbon distribution of as-produced and H2O2 treated MWNT, it was found that carbon-chain length increases for peroxide treated catalyst. Along with as-produced and functionalized nanotube, FT experiments were also conducted using B-doped sponge, un-doped sponge and N-doped CNT catalyst. B-doped sponge showed enhanced CO conversion and FT activity as compared to un-doped sponge. Conversion and product selectivity were found to be affected by temperature when test was conducted with N-CNT. Operating conditions like temperature, syngas feed flow rate and syngas ratio were also to impact the FT performance.