Date of Award

Spring 1996

Document Type

Thesis - Restricted

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

First Advisor

Brower, William E.

Second Advisor

Fournelle, Raymond A.

Third Advisor

Blumenthal, Robert N.

Abstract

Mechanically alloyed NiZr powder was studied as a catalyst candidate for the reduction of nitric oxide. Mechanical alloying provides a new processing route to mix catalytically active elements on the atomic scale which do not otherwise form equilibrium solid solutions. The metastable alloyed powder was characterized by BET surface area analysis, chemisorption, TGA, and XRD, and evaluated as a catalyst for nitric oxide (NO) reduction. Surface area of the as-received Ni50Zr50 ball milled powder was 0.11 m2/g, which increased to 3.2m2/g after reaction, an increase of 29X. Comparatively, sub-micron particle size pure Ni powder had an as-received surface area of 2.3 m2/g. Flow reactor studies of NO reduction kinetics indicated a turnover frequency of 12.2/sec - 29.4 / sec at 300°C for the as-received Ni50Zr50 powder catalyst, versus 0.18 / sec for Ni powder at 530°C and 7.2 X 10-4 / sec at 200°C for supported Ni-SiO2/Al2O3 commercial catalyst. The Ni50Zr50 had a higher turnover frequency but the supported Ni-SiO2/AI2O3 converted the NO at a lower temperature.

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