Catalytic activity of heteropolytungstic acid encapsulated into mesoporous material structure

Abstract

The paper presents a spectroscopic and catalytic study of encapsulated Keggin type heteropoly acid (12-tungstophosphoric acid, HPW) in the mesopores of MCM-41 molecular sieves. Nitrogen physisorption, FTIR, SEM, XRD and catalytic methods have been used to characterize and compare the properties of the samples. Methanol conversion, alpha-pinene isomerization and ethyl acetate oxidation have been applied as model reactions for the evaluation of acid site activity. The combined physicochemical and catalytic investigations clearly show that the introduction of 12-tungstophosphoric acid into MCM-41 causes significant changes in the properties of the sample.