A spectroscopic and thermal study of cobalt carboxylates
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Date
2009-10-15T08:21:13Z
Authors
Ley, Avril
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Abstract
In South Africa the chemical industry is dominated by Sasol. Currently Sasol
produces syngas (CO + H2) from coal and/or natural gas, which is converted
to hydrocarbon materials and fuels over iron or cobalt catalysts utilizing
Fischer-Tropsch technology.
Many of the refinery operations downstream of Fischer-Tropsch synthesis
entail hydrotreating. Since the feed is sulfur free, an unsulfided nickel based
hydrotreating catalyst is the preferred catalyst of choice. However the
presence of oxygenated products, especially organic acids, in the feed
precludes the use of such catalysts due to acid leaching of the nickel. It is
thus desirable to find unsulfided catalysts that can decarbonylate the organic
acids prior to hydrotreating. It has been suggested that metal-carboxylate
interactions could narrow the field in search of commercial catalysts for the
decarbonylation of carboxylic acids.
In this project, a systematic study of cobalt(II) carboxylates was undertaken.
Their purity was determined using IR and their thermal decomposition
behaviour studied using TGA and DSC.
The cobalt compounds were found to be sufficiently pure for further
investigation using IR. These materials decompose between 265oC and 400oC
making cobalt a poor candidate for use as commercial decarbonylation catalysts.