Magnesium oxide prepared via metal?chitosan complexation method : application as catalyst for transesterification of soybean oil and catalyst deactivation studies.

A simple method to prepare magnesium oxide catalysts for biodiesel production by transesterification reaction of soybean oil with ethanol is proposed. The method was developed using a metal?chitosan complex. Compared to the commercial oxide, the proposed catalysts displayed higher surface area and basicity values, leading to higher yield in terms of fatty acid ethyl esters (biodiesel). The deactivation of the catalyst due to contact with CO2 and H2O present in the ambient air was verified. It was confirmed that the active catalytic site is a hydrogenocarbonate adsorption site

Preparation, structural characterization and catalytic properties of Co/CeO2 catalysts for the steam reforming of ethanol and hydrogen production.

In this paper, Co/CeO2 catalysts, with different cobalt contents were prepared by the polymeric precursor method and were evaluated for the steam reforming of ethanol. The catalysts were characterized by N2 physisorption (BET method), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UVevisible diffuse reflectance, temperature programmed reduction analysis (TPR) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FEG-SEM). It was observed that the catalytic behavior could be influenced by the experimental conditions and the nature of the catalyst employed. Physicalechemical characterizations revealed that the cobalt content of the catalyst influences the metal-support interaction which results in distinct catalyst performances. The catalyst with the highest cobalt content showed the best performance among the catalysts tested, exhibiting complete ethanol conversion, hydrogen selectivity close to 66% and good stability at a reaction temperature of 600 _C