The Effect of the Crystalline Phase of Zirconia for the Dehydration of Iso-propanol

Abstract

− Zirconium hydroxide was synthesized by varying the aging time of the zirconyl chloride octahydrate at 100 o C in aqueous solution and the resulting hydroxides were calcined at 700 o C for 6 h to obtain the crystalline ZrO 2 . The materials used in this study were characterized by differential thermal analysis (DTA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), N 2 -sorption, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), NH 3 temperature-programmed desorption (NH 3 -TPD), CO 2 -TPD and iso-propanol TPD analyses to correlate with catalytic activity for the dehydration of iso-propanol. The pure tetragonal ZrO 2 phase was obtained after 24 h aging of zirconium hydroxide and successive calcination at 700 o C. The increase of aging time showed the production of smaller particle size ZrO 2 resulting that the higher specific surface area and total pore volume. NH 3 -TPD results revealed that the relative acidity of the catalysts increased along with the increase of aging time. On the other hand, the results of CO 2 -TPD showed the reverse trend of NH 3 -TPD results. The best catalytic activity for the dehydration of iso-propanol to propylene was shown over ZrO 2 catalyst aged for 168 h which had the highest S BET (178 m 2 g −1). The catalytic activity could be correlated with high surface area, relative acidity and easy desorption of iso-propanol.