Type

Text

Type

Thesis

Advisor

Mahajan, Devinder. | Kim, Tae T. | , .

Date

2017-08-01

Keywords

Alternative energy -- Chemical engineering. | Batch reaction | Bio-diesel | Catalysis | Dimethyl ether | Nanotechnology | Renewable energy

Department

Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Language

en_US

Source

This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree

Identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/11401/78201

Publisher

The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.

Format

application/pdf

Abstract

As a way to manage increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, ad- vanced research has focused on efficient and sustainable biofuel production from catalytic carbon dioxide conversion. Furthermore, atmospheric levels of methane remain the second largest greenhouse gas emitted globally. Methane can be used as a feedstock to produce dimethyl ether (DME), a clean fuel that is a substitute for fossil diesel. Production of DME as an alternative diesel fuel is a two-step process: methanol synthesis followed by methanol dehy- dration. Research has shown that supported Cu-ZnO with gamma alumina is a promising catalyst for DME production. The focus of this research is catalytic dehydration of methanol over catalysts based on nano-sized Ni, Co and Cu. The catalysts were prepared by depositing nano-sized metal par- ticles onto a mesoporous alumina support using sonolysis in a hexadecane solvent. The catalysts were separated from solution by centrifuge, dried and then evaluated for methanol dehydration reaction in a 300-mL Parr batch reactor. Initial reaction conditions were 260 ?C and 150 psig under nitrogen. The data demonstrated that Cu achieved the highest methanol conversion for DME production. DME was identified using FT-IR. | 45 pages

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