Custom Catalyst Development

Southern Research offers extensive capabilities and experience with diverse techniques used in catalyst/sorbent preparation and characterization, including:

• Catalyst/sorbent preparation
• Size reduction of commercial materials in laboratory mills as needed
• Preparation or procurement of solutions from which catalysts are precipitated
• Precipitation of catalysts in beakers, pans, or stirring beds
• Recovery of precipitate by vacuum filtration
• Spray drying catalyst slurries to form precise size catalysts with high surface area
• Drying of recovered catalyst in laboratory ovens
• Calcining in tube furnace in reducing gases as needed for activation
• Physical characterization
• Surface area measurement by the BET method, using gas adsorption isotherms
• Porosity and pore-size distribution by adsorption isotherms
• Particle-size distribution by Microtrac and/or Shimadzu analyzers
• Morphology studies by scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
• Heat capacity by differential scanning calorimeter or adiabatic calorimeter
• Thermal expansion of substrates by quartz tube dilatometer
• Chemical characterization
• Chemical composition by inductively-coupled argon plasma (ICAP)
• Micro-analysis by energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX)
• Chemical compound identification by X-ray diffraction (XRD)
• Adsorption/desorption studies by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)
• Study of phase transitions by differential thermal analysis (DTA)
• High-temperature morphology changes by hot-stage SEM (up to 1000°C)
• Reactivity evaluation in Southern Research Catalyst Development Laboratory or higher temperature reactors
• Preparation of synthetic gas mixtures using mass flow controllers
• On-line, real-time gas analysis by MKS Model 2030 FTIR analyzer
• Substrate-supported catalyst and packed-bed studies up to 1000°C
• Evaluation of initial reactivity and catalyst/sorbent degradation
• Evaluation of poisoning effects due to sulfur, halides, and trace metals

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