(338e) Solubility of Metal Complexes in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Solutions

Impregnation of the active component onto the catalyst support and its functionalization is a key step in preparation of catalysts. Impregnation at supercritical conditions is far superior to conventional wet impregnation. The key prerequisite for this process is the solubility of the metal complexes in supercritical fluids. Carbon dioxide, which is the most widely used supercritical fluids fails to dissolve some of these inorganic and organic metal complexes. For this reason modifiers such as alcohols are employed.

Here, cloud points of materials that are difficult to solubilize are determined. The materials include organic and inorganic catalyst precursor complexes such as Nickel Nitrate and Nickel Acetate. Supercritical carbon dioxide plus entrainer (alcohols) used as the solvent. The results are modeled using PRSV and extended to other experimental condition.