Effect of promotion of nickel sulfide catalyst with silver on kinetics of decarbonilation of stearic acid

Resumo

The kinetics of liquid-phase decarbonylation of stearic acid in n-dodecane on γ-Al₂O₃ supported nickel sulfide catalyst promoted with silver was experimentally studied at 350 °C. The parameters of the reaction steps were determined and a structural kinetic model was developed. The model was compared with an earlier developed kinetic model for the unpromoted catalyst. It was suggested that an increased reaction selectivity in the presence of silver promoted catalyst was caused by a change in the composition of the adsorption complexes formed by the active sites of the catalyst. This change in the composition of the complexes is probably associated with an increase in the average size of the surface active particles of the catalyst.