Os óxidos de enxofre (SOx) são um dos maiores poluentes atmosféricos e um dos precursores da chuva ácida. Um levantamento feito na Petrobrás mostrou que cerca de 17% dos SOx emitidos numa refinaria são oriundos do processo de FCC. Com o avanço dos controles ambientais, traduzido numa legislação mais restritiva, a técnica de incorporação de aditivos para remoção de SOx em UFCCs apresenta-se como a alternativa de menor custo frente outras tecnologias de abate das emissões de SOx. No presente trabalho, foram estudados aditivos constituídos por compostos derivados de hidrotalcitas com a substituição parcial do magnésio e do alumínio por cobre e/ou manganês, sendo estes impregnados ou não por dióxido de cério. Estes aditivos foram submetidos a testes de desempenho em uma unidade multi-propósito acoplada a um micro-GC/TCD. Em todos os testes, a corrente gasosa para a etapa de adsorção oxidativa foi de 1700 ppm de SO2 e 1,5% O2 em He e, para a etapa de regeneração, 30% H2/He. No primeiro conjunto de testes, realizou-se uma adsorção a 720ºC de 10 min e regeneração com um patamar a 530ºC, seguido de um TPR até 800ºC. Observou-se que as amostras impregnadas com cério apresentaram o melhor desempenho na remoção de SO2, indicando que o cério pode ter um papel de promotor da oxidação de SO2 a SO3. Os resultados do TPR mostram que as amostras com cério e com manganês parecem apresentar menores temperaturas de redução dos sulfatos, apesar das maiores liberações de H2S serem identificadas nas amostras com cobre. No segundo conjunto de testes, a adsorção foi a 720ºC durante 35 min e a regeneração a 650ºC por 5 minutos em um patamar de 5 minutos, seguida de um TPR até 800ºC. Para os tempos de sulfatação curtos (5 e 10 min), os resultados confirmaram o efeito positivo que a incorporação de CeO2 apresenta sobre a adsorção oxidativa do SO2. Todavia, para tempos de reação maiores (35 min), não se observou uma correlação clara entre a composição química do catalisador e a quantidade total de SOx removida. Os aditivos foram ainda testados em ciclos de reação-regeneração em condições equivalentes ao segundo conjunto de testes descrito. De um modo geral, os aditivos que contêm cobre têm uma vida útil superior aos demais, possivelmente, pelo fato do cobre ter importante papel na regeneração do aditivo

NiO, CeO2 and respective composites are extensively used in energy storage devices due to mostly their high electrochemical activity. However, the assessment of battery-like behavior of Ni-ceria based systems comprising (Ni or Gd)-doped ceria combined with NiO seems to be neglected in the literature. In this work, NiO and ceria-based solid solutions composite powders were obtained by a co-precipitation synthesis method. The structure and particle size of the calcined powders were investigated by X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), respectively. Oxidative states of composites were inspected by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The electrochemical performance of powders was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge-discharge and impedance spectroscopy. Refinement of the XRD patterns showed that powders have nanosized crystallites and mean size of particles within 20 – 70 nm were revealed by FESEM. The improved specific capacity of the NiO-CeO2 electrode material (about 2.5 times higher than that of NiO-CGO at 5 mV s−1) is due to an increase in Faradic reactions taken place on its surface with a higher fraction of defects (namely Ni3+, Ce3+ and oxygen vacancies), as determined by XPS. The superior electrochemical performance of the NiO-CeO2 electrode is also confirmed by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.

This work reports the microstructural (XRD/SEM), dilatometric and electrical characterization (impedance spectroscopy) of ceria (CeO2) obtained by microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis under mild conditions (T = 120 °C and short reaction times of 10 and 20 min). The as-prepared and calcined powders show characteristic diffraction peaks of the cubic fluorite-type structure of cerium oxide. A remarkable sinterability allows obtaining dense ceramics (relative densities exceeding 95%) with enhanced electrical properties (σt = 2.14 × 10−5 S cm−1 at 500 °C) after sintering at a temperature as low as 1200 °C.

In this study, nanostructured ceria (CeO2) films are deposited on Si(100) and ITO coated glass substrates by pulsed DC magnetron sputtering using a CeO2 target. The influence on the films of using various gas ambients, such as a high purity Ar and a gas mixture of high purity Ar and O2, in the sputtering chamber during deposition are studied. The film compositions are studied using XPS and SIMS. These spectra show a phase transition from cubic CeO2 to hexagonal Ce2O3 due to the sputtering process. This is related to the transformation of Ce4þ to Ce3þ and indicates a chemically reduced state of CeO2 due to the for mation of oxygen vacancies. TGA and electrochemical cyclic voltammetry (CV) studies show that films deposited in an Ar atmosphere have a higher oxygen storage capacity (OSC) compared to films deposited in the presence of O2. CV results specifically show a linear variation with scan rate of the anodic peak currents for both films and the double layer capacitance values for films deposited in Ar/O2 mixed and Ar atmosphere are (1.6 ± 0.2) 10 4 F and (4.3 ± 0.5) 10 4 F, respectively. Also, TGA data shows that Ar sputtered samples have a tendency to greater oxygen losses upon reduction compared to the films sputtered in an Ar/O2 mixed atmosphere.

The water contamination has been one of the major problems of society, and various technologies have been recently studied for the treatment of sewage and industrial waste water. Advanced oxidation processes have been studied recently by the satisfactory results in the removal of various organic compounds. To that end, the main objective of this work was to synthesize particles of TiO2 and TiO2 doped with 1 and 2% cerium oxide for application in photocatalysis, using the dye Remazol Yellow Gold (RYG) as a model substrate for testing the photocatalytic activity. For the synthesis of the material was used, modified Pechini method and photocatalysts were heat treated with or without O2 atmosphere at different temperature ranges. The materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectroscopy (IR) spectroscopy in the visible ultraviolet (UV-Vis) and Raman spectroscopy. The obtained phase, anatase and rutile was very sensitive to the doping and thermal treatment prior to the crystallization process. The pure TiO2 showed a better performance compared to TiO2 doped cerium oxide, and the increase in the dopant concentration led to a decrease in the photocatalytic activity.

Clay minerals have attracted significant attention for use in heterogeneous catalysis, showing high versatility and low cost, besides their structural properties allow modifications by activation in order to obtain active catalysts. Otherwise, metallic oxides, like ZnO, CuO and CeO2, are promising materials in the catalysis for the biodiesel synthesis, whether pure or in mixtures and supported materials. Due to the search for catalysts that facilitate the separation and purification processes of the final productof transesterification, this research aimed to study the viability of ZnO, CuO and CeO2 synthesis and their simultaneous deposition on bentonite (natural and on its acid form). Moreover, the formation of ZnO/Bentonite hybrids was also evaluated. The microwave assisted hydrothermal/solvothermal method was employed to obtain the catalysts. A factorial design 23 was employed to evaluate the different experimental conditions for the synthesis of hybrids. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, N2 adsorption, field emission scanning electronic microscopy, transmission electronic microscopy, thermogravimetry, X-ray fluorescence and infrared spectroscopy. Biodiesel synthesis was carried out using the Parr reactor, employing ethyl alcohol and soy bean. For the tests using the hybrids, the influence of the catalyst on biodiesel production was evaluated using a factorial design 22. The products of catalytic tests were characterized by kinematic viscosity, 13C and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and gas chromatography (GC).The results indicated that the natural bentonite is a good support for the formation of the catalysts obtained by microwave assisted hydrothermal/solvothermal method, showing effective whether for the formation of impregnated bentoniteon metallic oxides or hybrids synthesis. Among the metallic oxides, ZnO showed the highest activity. The factorial design allowed to identify that the pH factor for the catalysts and the temperature one for the biodiesel were the parameters that had more influence in the synthesis. The use of ZnO as active phase for the formation of the impregnated bentonite catalysts and hybrids increases the catalytic activity for transesterification reaction, achieving more than 73% yield after 4 hours of reaction and adding value to the bentonite.

This work investigated the substitution of Y2O3 for CeO2 in liquid-phase sintered silicon nitride ceramics. Cost reduction as well as good physical, mechanical and microstructural properties are the main objectives of the present study. Two powder mixtures were prepared, varying the contents of alpha-Si3N4, Al2O3, AlN, Y2O3 and CeO2. The mixtures were homogenized in ethanol, dried in a rotating evaporator and kiln, respectively, and then uniaxially (100 MPa) and cold isostatically pressed (300 MPa). The samples were sintered at 1850ºC for 1 h in a graphite resistive furnace under nitrogen atmosphere. After sintering the density of the samples was higher than 97% of the theoretical value. The fracture toughness and hardness were higher than 5.28 MPa.m½ and 17.12 GPa, respectively. Phase analysis by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy revealed the presence of alpha-SiAlON and beta-Si3N4.

This work reports the use of cerium - titania - alumina - based systems modified with Ag and Fe by the wetness impregnation method for the discoloration of blue 5G dye. The techniques employed to characterize the photocatalysts were: temperature - programmed reduction (TPR), X - ray diffraction (XRD), specific surface area, average pore volume, and average pore diameter. The characterization results indicated that the photocatalysts had different crystalline structures and textural properties. Discoloration with the mixed oxide photocatalyst CeO2 - TiO2 - Al2O3 gave a result similar to that of TiO2. On the other hand, the addition of Ag and Fe to the mixed oxide increased the discoloration and reaction rates of reactive blue 5G dyes.

The CO2 reforming of CH4 was carried out over Ni catalysts supported on γ-Al2O3 and CeO 2-promoted γ-Al2O3. The catalysts were characterized by means of surface area measurements, TPR, CO2 and H2 chemisorption, XRD, SEM, and TEM. The CeO2 addition promoted an increase of catalytic activity and stability. The improvement in the resistance to carbon deposition is attributed to the highest CO2 adsorption presented by the CeO2 addition. The catalytic behavior presented by the samples, with a different CH4/CO2 ratio used, points to the CH4 decomposition reaction as the main source of carbon deposition.