A stochastic search of the potential energy surface for the formic acid dimers results in 21 well-defined minima. A number of structures are reported here for the first time, others have already been experimentally detected or computationally predicted. Four types of different hydrogen bonds (HBs) are at play stabilizing the clusters: primary C=O⋯ H-O and H-O⋯ H-O and secondary C=O⋯ H-C and H-O⋯ H-C HBs corresponding to well-characterized bonding paths are identified. A novel C=O⋯ C stabilizing interaction is also reported. The double proton transfer reaction is calculated to occur in a synchronous fashion, with an energy barrier smaller than the energy needed to break up the dimers.

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LaMnO3+δ nanoperovskites were prepared via the continuous and scalable spray-flame synthesis (SFS) technique from metal nitrate-based solutions by using either ethanol (EtOH) as solvent or a mixture of ethanol (50 vol %) and 2-ethylhexanoic acid (50 vol %) (EtOH/2-EHA). Solutions based on pure EtOH generated a mixture of several phases and a broad and multimodal particle size distribution, which is attributed to a combination of gas-to-particle and droplet-to particle formation of particles. The product contained a bimodal distribution of the orthorhombic (Pnma II) LaMnO3 perovskite-like phase and additional, unwanted phases such as La2O3 and sub-20 nm Mn-rich amorphous/poorly crystalline particles. The incorporation of 2-EHA led to high surface area (>100 m2 g–1), small, and crystalline LaMnO3+δ nanoparticles with sizes ranging between 4 and 15 nm in the presence of few sub-200 nm particles (<10 wt %). This sample is mainly composed of the orthorhombic Mn4+ rich (Pnma I) LaMnO3+δ phase, and it counts with a very high specific surface area that makes it highly promising for catalytic applications. FTIR and UV–VIS spectroscopy of the precursor solutions revealed the oxidation of the Mn2+ precursor in advance of the particle formation process along with the esterification of the solvent mixture. It is assumed that the observed liquid-phase oxidation supports the formation of Mn4+-rich perovskites. According to O2-TPD and H2-TPR measurements, the EtOH/2-EHA sample presented a much higher formation of adsorbed active oxygen species and higher reducibility than the EtOH-made material, leading to a superior performance for both the catalytic oxidation of CO and the selective oxidation (SELOX) of CO.

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Citation: Tapia J, Acelas NY, López DP, Moreno A. NiMo-sulfide supported on activated carbon to produce renewable diesel, Universitas Scientiarum, 22 (1): 71-85, 2017. doi: 10.11144/Javeriana.SC22-1.nsoa Funding:The authors are grateful to Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM) for financing the project, "Programa de Producción de Bio-Hidrocarburos Líquidos para la Generación de Energía Eléctrica" (401466), and to the University of Antioquia for the financial support of the "Programa Sostenibilidad". AbstractDue to their weak polarity and large surface area, activated carbon supports have the potential to enhance the dispersion of metal-sulfides. It is expected that the absence of a strong metal-support interaction can result in the formation of a very active and stable Ni-Mo-S phase. In this study, catalysts with different amounts of nickel and molybdenum supported on a commercial activated carbon were prepared by a co-impregnation method and characterized by BET, XRF, and SEM techniques. The catalytic activity for hydroprocessing of Jatropha oil was evaluated in a batch reactor, and the composition of the liquid and gaseous products were determined. Results showed that gaseous products are mainly composed of high amounts of propane and small amounts of other light hydrocarbons (C1 to C5). Liquid hydrocarbon products consisted of a mixture containing mainly n-paraffins of C15-C18 and some oxygenated compounds. The catalysts with a mass fraction of 3 % Ni, 15 % Mo (Ni3Mo15/AC) presented the highest selectivity toward C17-C18 hydrocarbons, with a product distribution similar to a commercial alumina-supported Ni-Mo-S catalyst.

There is an ongoing effort to replace rare and expensive noble‐element catalysts with more abundant and less expensive transition metal oxides. With this goal in mind, the intrinsic defects of a rhombohedral perovskite‐like structure of LaMnO3 and their implications on CO catalytic properties were studied. Surface thermodynamic stability as a function of pressure (P) and temperature (T) were calculated to find the most stable surface under reaction conditions (P=0.2 atm, T=323 K to 673 K). Crystallographic planes (100), (111), (110), and (211) were evaluated and it was found that (110) with MnO2 termination was the most stable under reaction conditions. Adsorption energies of O2 and CO on (110) as well as the effect of intrinsic defects such as Mn and O vacancies were also calculated. It was found that O vacancies favor the interaction of CO on the surface, whereas Mn vacancies can favor the formation of carbonate species.