M.L. Hernandez-Pichardo

Phase Stabilization of Mesoporous Mn-Promoted ZrO2: Influence of the Precursor

Mesoporous zirconia-Mn oxides were prepared by surfactant-assisted precipitation using different zirconia precursors and cetyl-trimethyl-ammonium bromide (CTAB) as a synthetic template. The objective of this work was to find out the influence of the zirconia precursors over the structural and textural characteristics of Mn-doped mesoporous zirconia solids. A series of syntheses were carried out by two methods using different zirconia precursors, modifying the Zr:surfactant ratio and the hydrolysis rate of the precipitate. After calcination at 500 °C, the samples were characterized by XRD, DTA, TEM and nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherm. The use of the zirconium nitrate leads to materials having higher surface areas and narrow pore size distributions in the range of mesoporous materials; however, the preferential formation of the zirconia in the metaestable tetragonal phase was identified as the effect of the particle size allowed by the preparation method rather than the effect of the precursor. It was also found that the Mn and surfactant addition enhances the stabilization of the tetragonal crystalline phase and porosity.

Estimation of the Heat Flux Through Furnace Side Walls Protected with Water Cooled Cooling Devices

A three dimensional numerical heat transfer model has been developed to estimate the heat flux trough furnace side walls protected with water cooled cooling fingers. The model was set up by means of the finite element method. Materials with different thermal conductivity were modelled and the results obtained with the mathematical model were compared with experimental data. In every case, it was found excellent agreement between the experimental data and the model computations.