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Figure 3
Performance profiles of various prepared PMPC catalysts (5 % Pd/C) from evonik. these profiles allow
conclusions to be drawn regarding the preferred reactions and substrates of the particular catalyst types
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DEG-Catalyst 1 DEG-Catalyst 2 DEG-Catalyst 3 DEG-Catalyst 4
DEG-Catalyst 5 DEG-Catalyst 6 DEG-Catalyst 7 DEG-Catalyst 8
DEG-Catalyst 9 DEG-Catalyst 10 DEG-Catalyst 11 DEG-Catalyst 12
DEG-Catalyst 13 DEG-Catalyst 14 DEG-Catalyst 15
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Reaction Reaction Reaction Reaction
333 but also on the manufacturing formula. To put it
differently: The catalytic performance profiles are a
type of unique fingerprint for each type of catalyst.
Evonik uses profiling in the development of new
catalysts when laboratory formulas have to be transferred
to the commercial scale. With the new method,
they can analyze whether the properties lend themselves
to reproduction, and whether the catalysts produced
perform as well as the laboratory models.
Figure 2 demonstrates that profiling is well suited
to this purpose. It not only shows whether the catalyst
formula could be successfully transferred from
the laboratory to the production scale but also which
production parameters determine catalyst performance
and whether they might still require finetuning.
Profiling therefore allows selective improvement
in the robustness of the catalyst production
process, and it also assists quality assurance.
Figure 3 shows various profiles of the catalysts of
Evonik’s PMPC portfolio. All of these are five percent
Pd catalysts, with activated carbon as the carrier. The
only difference in these catalysts is the way they were
produced. In the end, they all have the same quantitative
composition. The figure shows how extremely
sensitive the performance profiles are to the parameters
of catalyst production. This makes profiling a
useful tool not only for scaling up catalysts: The
method also makes it possible to derive preferred
reactions and substrates for the various catalyst types
from the profiles.
In other words, it allows fast identification of the
types of reactions or substrates that will make a certain
catalyst in the Evonik portfolio display particularly
high activity and selectivity and, on the other
hand, which substrates will make the catalyst less
active or selective. By this method, customers can
obtain a sample optimally designed for their specific
application. 777
CAtALYsIs
More robust production processes
Pd dr. dorit Wolf has been R&D group leader in
Evonik’s Catalysts Business Line since 2004. She
studied chemistry at the University of Leipzig, where
she earned her doctorate in 1991. In 1997, Wolf qualified
as a university lecturer in chemical technology at
the Chair for Chemical Technology at Ruhr University
in Bochum. She subsequently accepted a position as
director of the Reaction Technology Working Group at
the Institute for Applied Chemistry Berlin-Adlershof.
In 2001 she moved to Evonik to direct the Hetero geneous
Catalysis Group in the Catalysis Project House.
+49 6181 59-8746, dorit.wolf@evonik.com
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elements39 Issue 2|2012