Endothermic Reforming Using Novel Catalysts Prepared by Exsolution

Abstract

Cooling of critical engine parts in hypersonic aircraft (above Mach 5) is challenging since air-cooling is not practical at such high velocities. While the fuel itself can be used to provide some cooling before it enters the combustion chamber, this approach is not sufficient to supply the required cooling load since the temperature to which the fuel can be heated is limited by gas phase pyrolysis reactions that have appreciable rates above 650C and produce tars that will foul the fuel lines. In the present contract period, we have explored two approaches aimed at achieving practical cooling using endothermic reactions. First, we have explored alternative fuels, demonstrating high heats and coking resistance for dehydrogenation of amines to nitriles over a zirconia catalyst and dehydrogenation of 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinoline to quinoline over a Pd/alumina catalyst. Second, since enhancing catalyst stability, especially preventing deactivation by coking resulting from decomposition of fuel molecules, will be required for endothermic reforming reactions, we also explored, both experimentally and computationally, the properties of metal catalysts prepared by ex-solution from perovskite supports which have been shown to exhibit tolerance against coking in previous work. In these studies, we explored the synthesis of this type of catalyst with high-surface-area perovskites prepared using Atomic Layer Deposition on stable supports and demonstrated that these materials maintain their high coking resistance. Computationally, we demonstrated that ex-solution processes are highly dependent on the composition of both the metal catalyst and the perovskite, as well as the crystallographic orientation of the perovskite.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 03, 2022
Accession Number
AD1185098

Entities

People

  • Raymond J Gorte

Organizations

  • University of Pennsylvania

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Aircrafts
  • Alternative Fuels
  • Catalysts
  • Chemical Reaction Properties
  • Chemistry
  • Combustion
  • Combustion Chambers
  • Dehydrogenation
  • Density Functional Theory
  • Electron Microscopy
  • Endothermic Reactions
  • Energy
  • Fuel Cells
  • Fuels
  • Hypersonic Aircraft
  • Materials
  • Molecular Dynamics
  • Scientific Research
  • Single Crystals
  • Solid Oxide Fuel Cells
  • Thin Films
  • Transition Metals
  • Transmission Electron Microscopy

Fields of Study

  • Chemistry

Readers

  • Petroleum Engineering
  • Superconducting Magnet Technology
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Hypersonics