MULTIMETALLIC PILLARED INTERLAYERED CLAY PRODUCTS AND PROCESSES OF MAKING THEM

Abstract: This invention is a composition of matter made up of an expanded smectite clay having multi-metallic pillars separa­ ting the clay layers. The expanded clay may be used as a shape selective catalyst, catalyst support, or as an adsorbent material. More particularly, this invention relates to expan­ ded smectite clays wherein the pillars are made up of aluminum and one or more transition metals.

Description: The present invention relates to the preparation of pillared interlayered clays which may be obtained by reacting smectite type clays with polymeric cationic multimetal complexes. The pillared interlayered clays of the invention possess an internal microstructure which may be established by introducing discrete and non-continuous inorganic oxide particles or pillars having a length between 6 and 16 Å between the clay layers. These pillars serve to hold the space between the clay layers open after removal of included water and serve to form an internal interconnected micropore structure throughout the inner layer in which the majority of the pores are less than about 30 Å in diameter. The invention relates to thermally stable interlayered clays having interlayer spacings up to 16 Å and whose pillars contain more than one type of metal atom. The product interlayered clay may be produced by reacting a naturally occurring or synthetic smectite type clay with a polymeric cationic hydroxy multimetal complex, the complex being produced by reacting certain metal-containing compounds with materials such as aluminum chlorohydroxide complexes ("chlorohydrol"), and heating to convert the hydrolyzed polymer complex into an inorganic multimetal oxide. The polymeric cationic hydroxy multimetal complex may be, of course, produced in a variety of other ways, including the introduction of the additional netals into the initial acidic aluminum solutions used in polymer synthesis. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Figure 1 represents a schematic cross-sectional view of the structure of a typical smectite type clay which has been treated with polymeric cationic hydroxy multimetal complex to form a pillared interlayer between the clay layers. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS To obtain the novel pillared interlayered clay products of the invention the following general procedure may be used: (1) a cationic polymer of the type believed to be (Al₁₃O₄(OH)₂₄⁷⁺, having a globular structure as first described by Johansen, Acta. Chem. Scand., V. 14 (1960), p. 771, is reacted in aqueous solution with a fourth, fifth or sixth period transition metal. These will primarily be front Groups 5B, 6B, 7B and 8 of the Periodic Table. The base multiatomic complex is thought to be of the type: Al iv Al vi / 12O₄(OH)₂₄)⁷⁺. One of more of the noted elements may be substituted into either or both of the iv or vi coordinate sites. The general formula for the substituted molecule may be represented as: N iv (Al 12-x M x ) iv O₄(OH)₂₄ +a where N may be Al³⁺, Si⁴⁺, Ga³⁺, Ge⁴⁺, As⁵⁺, P⁵⁺, Cr³⁺, Fe³⁺, V⁵⁺, Ru³⁺, Ru⁴⁺, Ni³⁺; M may be one or more of the elements of Groups 5B, 6B, 7B and 8 of the 4th, 5th or 6th Periods of the Periodic Table. The value for "x" may be from about 1 to about 6. The value for "a" depends upon the nature of the metal substitutions. Representative multimetal cationic polymer complexes include: (Fe iv (Al₁₀Cr₂) vi O₄(OH)₂₄⁷⁺ (Al iv (Al₉Fe₃) vi O₄(OH)₂₄⁷⁺ (Al iv (Al₁₀Ni₂) vi O₄(OH)₂₄⁵⁺. Obviously, such substitutions may change the charge on the polymer molecule. Depending on the solution pH, such multimetallic molecules may be hydrolyzed to produce lower charged species as indicated by Vaughan, et al., Proc. 5th Intl. Zeolite Conf., (1980), p. 94. Other methods for producing (Al₁₃)⁷⁺ are discussed below and may be used as an alternative to beginning with a commercial solution of lower aluminum chlorohydrol. (2) A smectite clay is mixed with the aqueous solution of polymeric cationic hydroxy multimetal complex formed in step (1), in amounts so that the weight ratio of clay to metal complex solution is from 1:2 to 1,000:1 (i.e., a weight ratio of metal complex solution to clay of from 2 to 0.001), preferably 0.05 to 2.0. The metal complex solution will preferably contain from 1 to 40 percent by weight solids in a suitable liquid medium, such as water. (3) The mixture of clay and metal complex is maintained at a temperature of 5 o C to 200 o C for a period of 0.1 to 4.0 hours. (4) The reacted clay solids are recovered and heated at a temperature of from 200 o C to 700 o C to decompose the hydrolyzed metal complex to a pillar believed to be of multiple metallic oxides or hydroxides. The clays which are suitable for use as starting materials in the present invention are the group of minerals known as smectites and are generally described above in the Background of the Invention. An extensive discussion of these materials is given in "Crystal Structures of Clay Materials and Their X-Ray Identification", edited by G. W. Brindley, et al., (Mineralogical Soc.), 1980. The inorganic metal polymers that are used as starting material for production of the multimetal polymers are generally known as basic aluminum complexes which are formed by the hydrolysis of aluminum salts. While there is inevitably some disagreement on the nature of the species present in hydrolyzed metal complex solutions (or suspensions), it is generally believed that these mixtures contain highly charged cationic complexes with several metal ions being complexed. The hydrolysis of cations brings about polymers through a process called olation. For aluminum this process is described by C. L. Rollinson in "Chemistry of the Coordination Compounds", edited by J. C. Bailar, Reinhold Publishing Corp., New York, (1956) as follows: In this process, single or double OH⁻ bridges can be formed between Al ions. In less acidic solution, larger polymers are formed by the process and the bridging OH⁻ can be converted to a bridging O⁻², a process called oxolation. Note that a doubly OH bridged complex is a pair of edged-sharing octahedra, and this is the same type of structure found in boehmite, AlOOH, where the OH⁻ groups at the surface of the layers are each shared by two AlO₆ octahedra. In hydrargillite, Al(OH)₃, all oxygen are also shared between two AlO₆ octahedra. Various methods that have been used to produce Al polymers are discussed in U. S. Patent No. 4,176,090. The specification also discloses the treatment of smectite clay materials with the Al polymers or multi-metal Al-complexes wherein the additional metal in either magnesium or a silica component. However, for the purposes of making the novel substituted clays of the invention, mixtures of aluminum salts and transition metal salts are used. The metal ions may either be added to a solution already containing (Al₁₃)⁷⁺ polymers or may be added to a solution in which those polymers are being formed. Either method appears to produce similar mixed metal polymers. The present work is concerned only with the transition metal cationic substituted forms of (Al₁₃)⁷⁺ having the general formula: N iv (Al 12-x M x ) vi O₄(OH)₂₄ +a where N may be Al³⁺, Si⁴⁺, Ga³⁺, Ge⁴⁺, As⁵⁺, P⁵⁺, Cr³⁺, Fe³⁺, V⁵⁺, Ru³⁺, Ru⁴⁺, Ni³⁺ or a mixture; M may be one or more of the elements selected from Groups 5B, 6B, 7B and 8 of the 4th, 5th or 6th Periods of the Periodic Table. These metals include V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Nb, Mo, Tc, Ru, Rh, Pd, Ta, W, Re, Os, Ir and Pt. The value for "x" may be from about 1 to 6. The value of "a" depends upon the metal substitutions. The preferred material is that when N is al or Al and Ru and M is selected from V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni or a mixture of these metals. The polymers described above may be exchanged into smectite-type clays by cation exchange or other method of imibition to form expanded clays. Typically the clay will be finely ground and slurried in an excess of water. The multimetallic polymer is also added in a large amount to the clay slurry. The mixture is then aged for a period of time sufficient to allow introduction of the polymer to a position between platelets of the host clay. Referring to the drawing, Figure 1 represents a typical smectite which has been treated with the multimetal complex polymers in accordance with the teachings of this invention and have a repeat distance a of 16 to 24 Å. The distance b between layers ranges between 6 and 16 Å. The height of the pillar b is established when the pillared multimetal complex polymer which is inserted between the clay platelets is decomposed by calcination at temperatures between 200 o C and 700 o C. The distance as shown in the drawing may be readily obtained from X-ray diffraction pattern for the various products and represent the first-order basal reflection parameter, i.e., 001. It should be understood that within a given clay structure the layers are not uniform but instead form a heterogeneous chemical mixture in which the exact composition of one layer may be somewhat different from that adjacent layer. This would be expected to result in slight variations in charge between layers, and, therefore, slight differences in the amount of polymer exchange in different layers. Since the size of the multimetal polymer is the controlling factor in setting the inner layer distance, charge heterogeneity on the layers would only affect the number of polymer species between the layers, that is to say, the number of pillars but not their size. In general, calcined products of the invention will have interlayer spacing of 6 to 16 Å, a nitrogen BET surface area of 150 to 600 m²/gram, and a nitrogen pore volume of from 0.1 to 0.6 cc/g. Furthermore, the novel pillared multimetal interlayered clay composition possess a substantial internal micropore structure, reflected by the nitrogen pore size distribution analyses which show a major fraction of pores in the range of less than 25 Å. The pillars themselves, in that they are produced by heating the multimetallic polymers discussed above, must contain some aluminum. A portion of the aluminum may be replaced by a number of semi metals or metals, as discussed above, i.e., N may be one or more of Al, Si, Ga, Ge, As, P, Cr, Fe, V, Ru or Ni in the cationic multimetal polymer. Furthermore, a substantial portion of the metal compound in the pillar must be at least one or more of V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Nb, Mo, Tc, Ru, Rh, Pd, Ta, W, Re, Os, Ir or Pt. The M x component of the polymer intermediate is the source of these metals. The compound in the pillars is believed to be, after calcination, mostly an oxide of a simple or complex type. Some hydroxide may remain, however. These interlayered products are useful as adsorbents, catalytic supports and in many instances as catalysts. Furthermore, it is contemplated that the interlayered clay products may be combined with other inorganic oxide adsorbents and catalysts, such as silica, alumina, silica-magnesia, silica-alumina, hydrogel, natural or synthetic zeolites, and clays. These compositions may be useful in the preparation of catalysts which contain other active or stabilizing metals, such as platinum, palladium, cobalt, molybdenum, nickel, tungsten, rare-earths and so forth, as well as matrix components, such as silica, alumina, and silica-alumina hydrogel. The resulting catalysts may be used in conventional petroleum conversion processes, such as catalytic cracking, hydrocracking, hydrotreating, isomerization, reforming, in polymerization and other petrochemical processes, as well as in molecular sieve separations. It is contemplated that these compositions may be especially useful in preparing bifunctional catalysts wherein a primary metallic catalyst is introduced into the clay by ion exchange and a secondary functional catalytic material is incorporated in the pillars as a portion of the multimetal pillars. Having described the basic aspects of the invention, the following specific examples are given to illustrate the preferred specific embodiments. Example 1 In this example, sufficient Cr³⁺ was added to an aluminum chlorohydrol Al₁₃O₄(OH)₂₄Cl₇ ("chlorohydrol") solution to give a resulting theoretical pillar having a composition of Al₁₁Cr₂O₄(OH)₂₄Cl₇. A 0.5 gram CrCl₃·6H₂O was dissolved, at room temperature, in 20 grams of a 50 weight percent aqueous chlorohydrol solution (Reheis Chemical Co.). The solution was stirred for 16 hours at 22 o C, then heated for two hours at 100 o C. A 10 gram sample of Bentolite L smectite (Georgia Kaolin Co.) was added and the slurry stirred at 95 o C for 75 minutes. The mixture was filtered and the blue-grey filter cake dried for 16 hours in a freeze dryer. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that about 30% of the clay had expanded to give an (001) layer spacing of 18.8 Å. In contrast, a similar sample of the clay exchanged only with a solution of CrCl₃ gave a green grey product that had an (001) reflection 15.1 Å. After calcination at 550 o C the polymer treated clay was a light tan-cream color, whereas the Cr³⁺ exchanged clay was a grey-brown color. Example 2 A 0.5 gram sample of CrCl₃·6H₂O was dissolved in 10 grams H₂O and mixed with a 20 gram sample of chlorohydrol (as in Example 1). After aging for 16 hours at 22 o C, the polymer solution was hot-aged for 75 minutes at 95 o C. A 10 grand sample of Bentolite L smectite was added and the slurry agitated at 95 o C for 90 minutes. The clay was filtered, yielding a blue grey filter cake and a similarly colored filtrate. After freeze drying the exchanged clay for 16 hours, the clay powder gave an X-ray diffraction (001) spacing of 18.2 Å (60%) and a spacing at 15.2 Å (25% indicating only H₂O intercalcination and 9.8 Å indicating no expansion). After calcination the sample turned a light tan-cream color. Example 3 In this example Ni²⁺ is substituted into the pillar. A 0.5 gram sample of NiCl₂6·6H₂O was dissolved in 20 grams H₂O, and added to 20 grams of a 50 weight percent solution of chlorohydrol (Reheis Chemical Co.). The resulting mixture was stirred for 10 minutes at room temperature. A 10 gram sample of Bentolite L montmorillonite was added and the whole was stirred for 16 hours at 23 o C. After filtration, the filter cake was freeze dried. X-ray diffraction showed the sample to have strong reflections at 21.7 Å and 11.8 Å. After calcination of the material at 450 o C for one hour, the sample was equilibrated at 88% RH over a saturated solution of CaCl₂. Thermogravimetric analysis of this sample showed a total weight loss of 26 weight percent, 23 weight percent being lost below a temperature of 450 o C. X-ray diffraction showed the sample to have a strong (001) reflection at 18.2 Å. Sorption of n-hexane showed a weight gain of 3.8 weight percent. After calcining in air for 2 hours at 650 o C and re-equilibrating with water at 88% for 2 hours, the sample sorbed 9 weight percent H₂O. If two Ni²⁺ have replaced two Al³⁺ in this experiment, the intercalated polymer will have a formula [Al₁₁Ni₂O₄(OH)₂₄]⁵⁺. Having thus described the invention and giving several examples in its practice, it should be apparent that various equivalents will be obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art and yet be within the purview of the claims appended hereon.

Claims: A pillared smectite clay product having generally separated layers wherein the interlayer distances are substantially greater than a precursor of the same but non-separated clay and wherein the product includes pillars which separate said layers, wherein the pillars are a cationic polymeric complex of the formula: N(Al 12-x M x )O₄(OH)₂₄ +a where N is Al, Si, Ga, Ge, As, P, Cr, Fe, V, Ru or Ni, or a mixture thereof; M is V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Nb, Mo, Tc, Ru, Rh, Pd, Ta, W, Re, Os, Ir, Pt or a mixture thereof: x is from 1 to 6; and a depends upon the selection of M and N. The product of claim 1 wherein the said metal M is selected from the group consisting of V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Ru and mixtures thereof. The product of claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the pillars are substantially oxides. The product of any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the smectite is selected from the group consisting of hectorite, chlorite bentonite, montmorillonite, beidellite and mixtures thereof. A process for preparing an interlayered multimetallic smectite clay product which comprises the steps of: (a) reacting a smectite with an aqueous composition comprising a polymeric cationic hydroxy multimetal complex of the formula: N(Al 12-x M x )O₄(OH)₂₄ +a where N is Al, Si, Ga, Ge, As, P, Cr, Fe, V, Ru, or Ni, or a mixture thereof; M is V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Nb, Mo, Tc, Ru, Rh, Pd, Ta, W, Re, Os, Ir, Pt, or a mixture thereof; x is from 1 to 6; and a depends upon the selection of M and N, and to produce an interlayered smectite product; (b) separating the interlayered smectite product from the mixture. The process of claim 5 wherein M is selected from the group consisting of V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Ru and mixtures thereof. The process of claim 5 or claim 6 wherein said mixture is reacted at a temperature of from 5°C to 200°C for a period of from 0.1 to 4 hours. The process of any one of claims 5 to 7 wherein the interlayered smectite product is heated at a temperature of from 200°C to 700°C. The process of any one of claims 5 to 8 wherein from 0.05 to 2.0 parts by weight of said metal complex solution is mixed with each part by weight of said smectite.

Inventors: VAUGHAN, DAVID EVAN WILLIAM
Applicants: EXXON RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING COMPANY
Application year: 1986
Main classification: B01J21
IPC codes: B01J20, C01B39, B01J29, B01J21