Development of vanadium-phosphate catalysts for methanol production by selective oxidation of methane. Quarterly technical progress report No. 6, July--September 1994

This is the eighth quarterly technical progress report. During this quarter the project was initiated, after transfer via a novation agreement, at the Colorado School of Mines. Project initiation activities have included: set up of catalyst synthesis apparatus; training on x-ray diffraction and FTIR apparatus; set up of catalyst testing reactor; set up of reactor product analytical systems; and set up of method development for measuring catalyst acidity via FTIR. At the end of this quarter significant progress had been made towards completion of these initiation activities. Several catalyst syntheses have been performed and the catalysts characterized by x-ray diffraction and FTIR. The catalyst testing reactor system is operational. Reactor product analysis system is nearing completion. Initiation of this system was delayed by the unavailability of a Valco valve which has just recently arrived. Set up of the in-situ FTIR cell for catalyst acidity studies has begun. In this report the results of several catalyst syntheses are reported along with characterization results. In particular, impregnation of vanadyl pyrophosphate with potassim nitrate dramatically reduced the number of surface hydroxyl groups. Such groups may be important in the non-selective, total oxidation of hydrocarbons. Also, preliminary experimental results on FTIR spectra of adsorbed pyridine are presented. It is shown that pyridine adsorbed on the catalyst surface can be easily observed by the diffuse reflectance IR technique. We plan to apply this technique to measurement of the acid site strength of surfaces modified with promoters