Synthesis of Spherical Silica by Sol-Gel Method and Its Application as Catalyst Support

Anirut Leksomboon (Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand)
Bunjerd Jongsomjit (Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand)

ASEAN Journal of Chemical Engineering
Vol 10, No 2 (2010)

In this present study, the spherical silica support was synthesized from tetraethyloxysilane (TEOS), water, sodium hydroxide, ethylene glycol and n-dodecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (C12TMABr). The particle size was controlled by variation of the ethylene glycol co-solvent weight ratio of a sol-gel method preparation in the range of 0.10 to 0.50. In addition, the particle size apparently increases with high weight ratio of co-solvent, but the particle size distribution was broader. The standard deviation of particle diameter is large when the co-solvent weight ratio is more than 0.35 and less than 0.15. However, the specific surface area was similar for all weight ratios ranging from 1000 to 1300 m2/g. The synthesized silica was spherical and has high specific surface area. The cobalt was impregnated onto the obtained silica to produce the cobalt catalyst used for CO2 hydrogenation.</