Development and study of powder catalysts for ammonia production

This thesis is focused on the development of a new supported catalyst for ammonia production. The main aim is to produce new materials able to operate at lower temperature and with greater resistance to oxygen poisoning than industrial iron-based catalyst. In particular, this work is focused on optimizing the support performances, increasing its resistance to poison. Different characterization techniques were used to understand the chemical-physical properties of the materials: TPR, XRD, TEM, XPS, N2 physisorption, CO and O2 chemisorption allowed to relate catalytic properties of the catalysts to their chemical and structural features. This thesis was carried out in collaboration with the Swiss company Casale SA, where the activity and resistance to poison of the prepared catalysts were benchmarked under relevant industrial ammonia synthesis conditions: 300-500 °C, 0-20 O2 ppm.