Search Results (3)

In this work, tin and zinc salts of silicotungstic and phosphotungstic acids were synthesized, characterized, and tested as catalysts for esterification reactions of glycerol with acetic acid (HOAc) to produce glycerol esters such as monoacetyl glycerol (MAG), which are used as additives in the pharmaceutical and food industries and in the manufacturing of explosives, or, in the case of di- or triacetyl glycerol (DAG and TAG), green bioadditives for diesel or gasoline. The activity of metal-exchanged salts (Zn, Sn) in H₃PW₁₂O₄₀ and H₄SiW₁₂O₄₀ heteropolyacids was evaluated in esterification reactions at room temperature. Among the catalysts tested, Sn_2/3PW₁₂O₄₀ was the most active and selective toward the glycerol esters. The process’s selectivity can be controlled by changes to reaction conditions. The maximum selectivitiesy of DAG and TAG were 60% and 30%, respectively, using a 1:3 molar ratio of glycerol/HOAc and a Sn_3/2PW₁₂O₄₀/673 K catalyst load of 0.4 mol%. Under these conditions, a glycerol conversion rate of 95% was observed and selectivity towards DAG and TAG was observed at 60% and 30%, respectively. The results were achieved after an 8 h reaction at a temperature of 333 K. The Sn_3/2PW₁₂O₄₀/673 K catalyst demonstrated the highest efficiency, which was attributed to its higher degree of acidity. Full article

The key task in the solidification of high-level waste (HLW) into a magnesium potassium phosphate (MPP) compound is the immobilization of mobile cesium isotopes, the activity of which provides the main contribution to the total HLW activity. In addition, the obtained compound containing heat-generating radionuclides can be significantly heated, which increases the necessity of its thermal stability. The current work is aimed at assessing the impact of various methodological approaches to HLW solidification on the thermal stability of the MPP compound, which is evaluated by the mechanical strength of the compound and its resistance to cesium leaching. High-salt surrogate HLW solution (S-HLW) used in the investigation was prepared for solidification by adding sorbents of various types binding at least 93% of ¹³⁷Cs: ferrocyanide K-Ni (FKN), natural zeolite (NZ), synthetic zeolite Na-mordenite (MOR), and silicotungstic acid (STA). Prepared S-HLW was solidified into the MPP compound. Wollastonite (W) and NZ as fillers were added to the compound composition in the case of using FKN and STA, respectively. It was found that heat treatment up to 450 °C of the compound containing FKN and W (MPP-FKN-W) almost did not affect its compressive strength (about 12–19 МPa), and it led to a decrease of high compressive strength (40–50 MPa) of the compounds containing NZ, MOR, and STA (MPP-NZ, MPP-MOR, and MPP-STA-NZ, respectively) by an average of 2–3 times. It was shown that the differential leaching rate of ¹³⁷Cs on the 28th day from MPP-FKN-W after heating to 250 °C was 5.3 × 10⁻⁶ g/(cm²∙day), however, at a higher temperature, it increased by 20 and more times. The differential leaching rate of ¹³⁷Cs from MPP-NZ, MPP-MOR, and MPP-STA-NZ had values of (2.9–11) × 10⁻⁵ g/(cm²∙day), while the dependence on the heat treatment temperature of the compound was negligible. Full article

Phosphotungstic and silicotungstic acid salt catalysts (CuPW, CuSiW, FePW, FeSiW) were synthesized by substitution of protons with ferric and copper ions through a simple replacement reaction. The structure and thermal stability were characterized by IR, XRD and TG, and the salts showed a keggin structure and a thermal tolerance near 450 °C. Temperature programmed reactions indicated that the four catalysts showed similar trends in the change of methanol conversion, DME selectivity, and light olefins selectivity at 100–400 °C. Copper salt catalysts showed a 100% DME selectivity at temperatures ranging from 100–250 °C, while FeSiW and FePW catalysts had a 100% DME selectivity near 250 °C. Moreover, the heteropolyacid salt catalysts also produced a certain number of light olefins at the temperature ranging from 250–350 °C, and the CuSiW catalyst exhibited the highest ethylene and propylene selectivity of 44%. In the stability test evaluated at 200 °C, the catalysts showed different tendencies during the induction period and the same trends during the reduction period for the methanol conversion to DME, due to the differences in the strengths of the strong acid sites. Finally, the silicotungstic acid salt catalysts showed the longest lifetime of 120 h, much longer than the heteropolyacids. This approach provides an effective way to synthesize hydrocarbons through methanol, especially DME, at different temperatures using one catalyst. Full article