Modeling of active phase - support interactions during impregnation and drying processes: towards a better understanding of catalytic activity
The control of the textural properties of alumina supports is a crucial issue in the manufacturing of novel catalytic materials. Indeed, mass transport inside the porous medium is strongly affected by the micro-structure and may decrease the impregnation efficiency of the active phase leading to a loss of catalytic activity. Alumina carriers are constituted of elementary crystals (of a few Å) formed during the precipitation step, that stick together to form aggregates (of a few nm). These clusters can become intertwined to form agglomerates (of 100 nm to 1 µm).