Dr Stuart Taylor Project Titles
1. Preparation of new catalysts using mechanical grinding procedures
Heterogeneous catalysts are prepared using a wide variety of methods. Many of these, such as impregnation and coprecipitation, use aqueous solutions, which can result in significant quantities of contaminated waste water. It would be desirable to investigate new methods for catalyst preparation, which would not generate such waste streams. One possibility that has not been widely studied is to prepare catalysts by solid state reaction by grinding. In Cardiff we have used this approach to synthesise Co3O4 catalysts, which demonstrate high activity for the destruction of Volatile Organic Compounds for environmental protection. We now plan to expand this approach to prepare more complex mixed metal oxide catalysts. Catalysts will be characterised using a wide range of solid-state analytical techniques and they will be evaluated for a range of selective oxidation reactions, including propane and methanol oxidation. The aim will be to establish structure-reactivity relationships and understand how varying the preparation variables influence catalyst performance.