Selective cracking of naphthenic rings to raise the cetane number of diesel fuels is an important issue for modern petroleum industry. In this thesis, two model reactions, ethylene conversion to ethylidyne as well as ring-opening of methylcyclopentane (MCP), were examined using periodic density functional calculations. This work successfully clarified the following issues: i) the mechanism of transforming ethylene to ethylidyne on Pt(111). The reaction comprises a series of hydrogenation / dehydrogenation steps, without direct 1,2-H shift reactions. ii) The particle-size effect on the selectivity of MCP ring-opening catalyzed by supported Pt, Rh, Ir or Pd particles. The selectivity depends on the C–C bond breaking barrier heights at terrace or step sites on the way to three isomeric hexanes.
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Selective cracking of naphthenic rings to raise the cetane number of diesel fuels is an important issue for modern petroleum industry. In this thesis, two model reactions, ethylene conversion to ethylidyne as well as ring-opening of methylcyclopentane (MCP), were examined using periodic density functional calculations. This work successfully clarified the following issues: i) the mechanism of transforming ethylene to ethylidyne on Pt(111). The reaction comprises a series of hydrogenation / dehyd...
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