Radiation catalytic decomposition of cyclohexane

Heterogeneous catalysts, both the metal oxide and supported metal type, were exposed to γ-radiation in a pulse microcatalytic reactor to see whether irradiation affects catalytic product formation. The yield of dehydrogenation products formed from pulses of cyclohexane increases considerably when catalysts γ-Al2O3 or Molecular Sieve MS-13X are subjected to a radiation field of 7.5 Gy s-1, but only minor effects are observed with Molecular Sieve MS-5A, SiO2, Fe2O3, TiO2, Cr2O3 and MnO2. This suggests that band gap of the metal oxides is not the only factor affecting radiation catalytic activity. (author)