International. Researchers have developed a new catalyst material that surpasses benchmarks and opens the door to significant advances in oil refining and industrial applications. Catalysis is a $16 billion industry, contributing up to 35% of the world's Gross Domestic Product.
"We don't see it, but we rely a lot on catalysis. If we could develop a better catalyst, it could have effects on all sorts of areas of our lives," said Dr. Shengqian Ma.
The University of South Florida research group has done just that, having developed a metal-organic structure (MOF) that outperforms zeolite materials in catalysis in several respects. Zeolites have an important role in a variety of catalytic applications, most prominent in gas and oil refining. The MOF Material combines an acidic structure of organic Bronsted with an aluminum Lewis acid center to create a more efficient catalysis.
In their experiments, the research group compared an identical sample reaction with standard zeolites and the new MOF material. On the one hand, zeolites begin to lose their effectiveness after an hour, and are generally completely useless after five hours. The MOF not only continued to work after six hours, but increased in efficiency, peaking at over 99% yields after two hours.
