Sharif Digital Repository

In this research, a series of NiO–MgO–SiO2 catalyst samples with various nickel contents (5, 10, 15 and 20 wt %) were prepared by a co-precipitation method followed by a hydrothermal treatment and employed in propane steam reforming. The analyses revealed that the enhancement of the nickel content up to 15 wt % improved the propane conversion to 98.6% at 550 °C. Nonetheless, further increase in the nickel loading reduced the catalyst activity due to the formation of larger and more poorly dispersed active sites. Besides, 15 wt % nickel loading led to the high resistance against coke deposition with no detectable carbon on the catalyst surface. In addition, it was revealed that, the decrease... 

In the present work, ultrafiltration membranes were prepared using emulsion polyvinyl chloride (EPVC) with the addition of various concentrations of polyethylene glycol (PEG) to investigate the morphological structure and separation properties. The effects of polymer concentration, coagulation bath temperature (CBT), and PEG (6 kDa) concentrations—a pore former hydrophilic additive—were studied. Through the phase inversion, the membranes—which were induced by immersion precipitation in a water coagulation bath—were fabricated through dissolving EPVC in N-methyl-pyrrolidinone, a polymer solvent. Morphological features of the membranes were characterized through scanning electron microscopy,... 

Palladium catalysts supported on functionalized multi-wall carbon nanotubes were synthesized for hydro-purification of crude terephthalic acid containing 2100ppm 4-carboxybenzaldehyde (4-CBA) as impurity. PdCl2 and Pd(OAc)2 were used as precursors. Palladium loadings were 0.05 to 0.6wt.% with catalysts reduced at 200 to 400°C. Catalysts prepared from both precursors with least 0.3wt.% palladium resulted in 99%+ removal of 4-CBA. The most desired selectivity was obtained for the catalyst with PdCl2 as precursor, reduction temperature of 300°C, and palladium loading of 0.3wt.%. This catalyst had slightly better performance than the commercial catalyst (0.5wt.% of palladium on activated carbon)... 

An easy method for green and low-temperature (40 °C) reduction of graphene oxide (GO) by increasing the antioxidant activity of green tea polyphenols (GTPs) in the presence of iron was developed. The reduction level (obtained by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) and electrical conductivity (obtained by current-voltage measurement) of the GO sheets reduced by GTPs in the presence of iron were comparable to those of hydrazine-reduced GO and much better than those of the GO reduced by only GTPs (in the absence of iron) at reduction temperatures of 40-80 °C. Raman spectroscopy indicated that application of GTPs in the presence of iron, in contrast to hydrazine, resulted in better recovering of... 

Palladium catalysts supported on functionalized multi-wall carbon nanotubes were synthesized for hydro-purification of crude terephthalic acid containing 2100ppm 4-carboxybenzaldehyde (4-CBA) as impurity. PdCl2 and Pd(OAc)2 were used as precursors. Palladium loadings were 0.05 to 0.6wt.% with catalysts reduced at 200 to 400°C. Catalysts prepared from both precursors with least 0.3wt.% palladium resulted in 99%+ removal of 4-CBA. The most desired selectivity was obtained for the catalyst with PdCl2 as precursor, reduction temperature of 300°C, and palladium loading of 0.3wt.%. This catalyst had slightly better performance than the commercial catalyst (0.5wt.%... 

In this paper, the combination of dry reforming and partial oxidation of methane on nickel catalysts supported on mesoporous MgAl2O4 was investigated. The support was prepared by a facile sol-gel route using propylene oxide as a gelation agent. The characterizations of the catalysts were performed by BET, XRD, TPR, TPO, TPH, UV–vis, CO-dispersion, SEM and TEM techniques. In addition, the effects of nickel content, reaction and reduction temperatures, feed ratio and the GHSV value on the physicochemical and catalytic properties were studied. The results revealed that the nickel content had an optimum value of 7.5 wt% and the catalyst with this content of nickel exhibited the highest activity.... 

The effect of oxygenate modifiers on the performance of PtSnγAl 2O3 catalyst in dehydrogenation of propane was studied. Dehydrogenation reaction was carried out in a fixed-bed quartz reactor in the temperature range of 575620 °C. Two types of oxygenate modifiers, namely water and methanol, were added to the feed. The optimum amounts of water for reaction temperatures of 575, 600 and 620 °C were 84, 120 and 140 ppm, respectively. The optimum amounts of methanol for the same reaction temperatures were 9.9, 25 and 50 ppm, respectively. Any further addition of water or methanol beyond these optimum levels resulted in a loss in activity. The addition of water or methanol led to the formation of...