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Dr. Brian J. Elliott, Principal Investigator, belliott@tda.com
Mr.
John D. Wright, Business Official,
DOE
Grant No. DE-FG02-03ER86169
Amount:
$750,000
Research Institution
University
of
Boulder, CO
Polymeric
acid catalysts are increasingly used in the chemical industry.
However, current polymeric heterogeneous catalysts are amorphous, and do
not have well defined, regular pores with controlled diameters and tight pore
size dimensions (as do, for example, high temperature zeolite acid catalysts).
It is now known that if acid groups can be ordered on the inside of 10 to
15 nanometer diameter pores (as the active sites), the resulting catalysis of
reactions will produce higher yields, much fewer side reactions, and at lower
temperatures. This project will
develop a process for making such nanostructured polymeric acid catalysts by a
self-assembly route. The resulting
catalysts will outperform conventional polymeric catalysts because size or shape
selective reactions will become a possibility.
Phase I produced and characterized nanostructured catalyst materials,
which were tested for use in the esterification reaction forming dioctyl
phthalate, the most abundant plasticizer on the market.
The catalyst outperformed a commercial resin in both reactivity and
selectivity. In Phase II, the new
catalysts will be fully characterized and tested in batch and continuous packed
bed reactors for the esterification reaction forming dioctyl phthalate.
The catalysts will also be screened for potential use in other types of
reactions including phenol alkylation, etherification, and the formation of
bisphenol “A”, acetals, and ketals.