Headwaters Technology Reveals Improved Nanocatalysts for Upgrading Liquid Fuels to Higher Octane Fuels-Activity Superior to Conventional Catalysts

Headwaters Technology Innovation, LLC (Lawrenceville, NJ) has created improved reforming catalysts that include a halogen promoter and a plurality of nanocatalyst particles supported on a support material. The nanocatalyst particles have a controlled crystal face. 

The controlled coordination structure is manufactured by reacting a plurality of catalyst atoms with a control agent such as polyacrylic acid and causing or allowing the catalyst atoms to form nanocatalyst particles. The catalysts are used in a reforming reaction to improve the octane number of gasoline feedstock. The reforming catalysts show improved C₅₊ hydrocarbon production and improved octane barrel number increases as compared to commercially available reforming catalysts, say inventors Bing Zhou, Horacio Trevino and Zhihua Wu in U.S. Patent 7,655,137.

The methods for manufacturing the reforming nanocatalysts include:

(i) providing a support material;

(ii) providing a halogen promoter impregnated in the support;

(iii) preparing a catalyst precursor by reacting together a plurality of catalyst atoms (e.g. platinum, palladium, rhodium, or iridium) and a straight-chained organic polymer or oligomer having functional groups capable of complexing the catalyst atoms (e.g. polyacrylic acid);

(iv) allowing or causing the catalyst precursor to form nanocatalyst particles and supporting the nanocatalyst particles on the support material; and

(v) removing at least a portion of the polymer or oligomer molecules to expose at least a portion of the catalyst atoms, thereby yielding a supported catalyst comprising a plurality of nanocatalyst particles in which at least about 50% of the catalyst atoms on an upper surface of the nanocatalyst particles have a nearest neighbor coordination number of 2 or a crystal face exposure.