(617aw) Catalytic Upgrading of Olefin Residues with Odd Number of Carbon Atoms

Linear alpha olefins (LAOs) are important chemical compounds with a variety of applications such as surfactants, detergents, and co-monomers for production of polyethylene. LAOs are commonly produced by two methods: ethylene oligomerization and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis followed by purification process. LAOs derived from Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) process, unlike oligomerization process, are composed of olefin mixtures of both even and odd carbon numbers. Because there is little demand for these odd numbered alpha-olefins in the market, more technical efforts to be converted into higher value-added compounds are required. In this work, the Rh catalysts supported on the various metal oxides were prepared and applied to the catalytic upgrading reaction of 1-heptene. The reactions were carried out in 100 cc autoclave reactor under different reaction conditions (temperature, pressure, and feed ratio). The effect of supported Rh catalysts on the catalytic performance and reaction pathway in the 1-heptene upgrading reaction was investigated. To elucidate the catalytic performance over the prepared Rh catalysts, various characterization method such as NH₃/CO₂-TPD (temperature-programmed desorption), XRD (X-ray diffractometer), and TPR (temperature-programmed reduction) measurements were conducted.