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Globally, the research carried out by the Applied Kinetics and Catalysis group is focused in the field of heterogeneous catalysis, mainly by means of acidic ion-exchange resins. We obtain a wide variety of compounds, most of them to be used as additives to improve gasoline and diesel performance in combustion engines. Our findings are based on experimental runs carried out in chemical reactors, operating in both batch and continuous mode. Thermodynamics and kinetics are of interest. Thermodynamics allows to characterize the chemical equilibrium situation by means of equilibrium constants, and thermochemical data are derived, as reaction enthalpy, entropy and Gibbs free energy. Kinetic studies provide, on one hand, kinetic expressions to predict reaction rates as a function of temperature and composition of the reaction medium, which are useful in the design of industrial reaction units; on the other hand, kinetic equations allow to propose reaction mechanisms to describe the actual elemental steps taking place in the catalytic process. Since different catalysts yield different results, it is also convenient to dilucidate which catalyst morphological and chemical properties affect their performance, in order to choose the best catalyst for a given reaction. The financial support in our research has been obtained from contracts with petrochemical and catalyst manufacturer companies, and from public funding sources. As a result, an extensive list of papers has been published in well-recognized international specialized journals, as listed below. The main research interests of our group can be classified in the following subjects:
In addition, the research group has also worked and published in other subjects:
In the Publications webpage a list of published papers by our research group is provided.
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