Extended Lifetime Supported Nanocatalysts for Energy Improvements in Commodity Chemical Manufacturing

There is significant opportunity for energy efficiency improvements throughout the global industrial and manufacturing sectors. Significant energy efficiencies have been made by manufacturers of domestically produced goods, but with the rise in export of manufacturing to countries with poor energy regulations have increased the energy footprint of consumer goods being imported back into the U.S. This project seeks to improve the stability and lifetime of supported metal catalysts used in the manufacture of commodity goods. Improvements to catalyst lifetime will decrease the energy consumed to produce commodity goods, independent of where the production occurs. The nanotechnology-enabled solution being implemented is a method of producing nanoscale porous films, or nets, to stabilize platinum nanoclusters. The nanoporous films will be deposited using Molecular Layer Deposition, and will be applied to commercial platinum-based catalysts as well as platinum produced using the Atomic Layer Deposition process. These techniques are rapid, scalable, are performed at low temperatures, and can be operated while producing little to no waste. In addition to these positive attributes, the processes are run with nanoscale precision which leads to a product with reproducible quality. The FCC reaction is the largest consumer of energy across the industrial/manufacturing sectors, and improvements to the catalysts used in this reaction will deliver significant global energy efficiencies. This is a platform technology that can also be applied to other supported metal catalyst powders to achieve similar global energy efficiencies. This nanotechnology-driven solution will be manufactured domestically and can be exported globally to achieve U.S. nanomanufacturing initiative goals. Honing the production of pilot-scale batches of stabilized catalyst powders during Phase I will allow for pilot-scale reaction data to be obtained in the Phase II work plan for FCC reactions and other catalyst/reaction systems.