Preparation and Characterization of Metal Carbide Zeolite Composite Catalyst

Abstract

The object of present work is to synthesize metal carbide zeolite composite catalysts and discusses their characteristics. Metal carbide with zeolite composite was prepared in the present research. Molybdenum carbide was used as a metal carbide which was prepared by solid-state method with Ammonium molybdate tetrahydrate and commercial activated carbon as raw materials. Ion exchanged method was used to add platinum to the HY zeolite. Modified Y zeolite was prepared by using ion exchanged method by mixing the HY zeolite with Cerium nitrate. After prepared Mo2C, PtHY zeolite, and CeY a formation process take place in order to form two catalysts the first one is Mo2C/PtHY-Zeolite, while the second one is Mo2C/CePtY zeolite. Tests such as X-Ray Diffraction, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) were performed on both catalysts and the results were as follows for the molybdenum carbide the surface area was 1072 m2/g, with a pore volume of 0.541 m3, the TGA indicated that 19.58 wt% of the substance was lost, finally, the average particle size is 18.65 nm. For the Mo2C/PtHY-Zeolite catalyst, the BET surface area was 724.55 m2/g, then the Thermal Gravimetric Analysis resulted in 10% of the catalyst being lost, and lastly, the average crystal size was 33.45nm. Moreover, for Mo2C/CePtY catalyst, the BET surface area was 734.55 m2/g, then the Thermal Gravimetric Analysis resulted in 19% of the catalyst being lost, and the average crystal size was 40.43nm.