Esterification over Acid-Treated Mesoporous Carbon Derived from Petroleum Coke

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Catalysis
• Chemical Engineering

Background:

• Petroleum coke is an abundant carbon source with potential for catalyst development.
• Developing high-surface-area, mesoporous carbon materials is crucial for advanced catalytic applications.
• Existing methods for carbon activation and functionalization can be energy-intensive or inefficient.

Purpose of the Study:

• To report a multistep activation process for Canadian oilsands petroleum coke.
• To create an acidified mesoporous carbon catalyst with enhanced properties.
• To investigate the influence of process parameters on pore development and catalytic activity.

Main Methods:

• Thermochemical activation of petroleum coke using potassium hydroxide (KOH) to produce microporous-activated carbon (APC).
• Impregnation of APC with ammonium heptamolybdate followed by carbothermal hydrogen reduction (CHR) to form Mo2C.
• Acid washing to yield the final acidified mesoporous carbon catalyst with high mesopore volume.

Main Results:

• Successfully produced a mesoporous carbon catalyst with a mesopore volume of approximately 0.7 cm³/g.
• Demonstrated the effect of CHR temperature and Mo2C loading on mesopore development.
• The resulting mesoporous carbons exhibited high activity for the esterification of acetic acid and 1-butanol at 77 °C.

Conclusions:

• The developed multistep activation process effectively transforms petroleum coke into a high-performance mesoporous carbon catalyst.
• Catalyst acidity, measured by NH3-TPD, correlates with the observed butanol conversion in esterification reactions.
• This method offers a promising route for valorizing petroleum coke into advanced catalytic materials.