CAREER: Rational Design in Chemical Engineering, From Polymerization Catalysis to Product Engineering

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

The objective of this project is to design porous silica catalysts with isolated organometallic surface species and to assess their efficacy as olefin polymerization catalysts. These metallocene catalysts have been successfully used as homogeneous catalysts. The aim of this project is to prepare corresponding heterogeneous catalysts that will overcome the difficulties (e.g., reactor fouling) associated with the homogeneous form. The distribution of sites in heterogeneous industrial catalysts causes the selectivity of these materials to be lower than for their homogeneous counterparts, but the proposed synthesis of a heterogeneous form is expected to overhome this problem. The approach involves functionalization porous silica followed by a novel technique for binding the catalyst to the surface to produce only one type of site. The resulting catalytic material will be characterized with a number of surface techniques followed by characterization of the polymer formed in model reactions. The educational plan includes the development of a course to intorduce the rational synthesis of materials and the introduction of this topic into an existing catalysis course. Participation in a program to help middle school and high school teachers become involved in research during the summer will be part of an outreach effort. This work could lead to a novel technique for heterogeneous polymerication and may have broader applications in creating well defined, spatially isolated, organometallic species on support surfaces for a variety of novel catalytic process.