Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Model-Based Catalyst Screening and Optimal Experimental Design for the Oxidative Coupling of Methane

Version 1 : Received: 7 December 2023 / Approved: 12 December 2023 / Online: 12 December 2023 (03:15:22 CET)

How to cite: Puliyanda, A. Model-Based Catalyst Screening and Optimal Experimental Design for the Oxidative Coupling of Methane. Preprints 2023, 2023120761. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202312.0761.v1 Puliyanda, A. Model-Based Catalyst Screening and Optimal Experimental Design for the Oxidative Coupling of Methane. Preprints 2023, 2023120761. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202312.0761.v1

Abstract

The oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) to produce ethane and ethylene (C2 compounds) as platform chemicals involves complex chemistry with reactions both in the gas phase and on the catalyst surface, resulting in a distribution of products at the expense of C2 selectivity. This work uses experimental data from a variety of mixed metal oxides on supports at different reaction conditions (temperature, contact time, and reactant flow rates) to train a random forest regressor that predicts methane conversion and C2 selectivity (key performance indicators (KPIs)), and deploys it to locate optimal conditions that maximize C2 yield for a catalyst. Investigating the regressor interpretability via feature importance reveals that the choice of metals and support are crucial to C2 selectivity predictions, while the predictions of methane conversion are driven by the reaction conditions. The machine learning (ML) regressor is used as a surrogate to develop performance curves for each of the catalysts via a multi-objective optimization routine that seeks to maximize the KPIs in the decision space of reaction conditions, is seen to locate optimal conditions at which the maximum C2 yields for catalysts are predicted to be 15%, higher on average. Analyzing the catalysts in the space of their performance curves with respect to a popular OCM catalyst, Mn-Na2WO4/SiO2, reveals distinct patterns based on intrinsic properties of metals and supports. Further, the decision space with catalyst descriptors and reaction conditions is optimized for high C2 yields using the ML surrogate, in a static multi-objective optimization routine, and an adaptive Bayesian routine, where the latter was found to have a wider field focus in proposing catalyst formulations and conditions. Transition metal oxides on a variety of supports were proposed but not their lanthanide oxide counterparts.

Keywords

catalyst screening; catalyst informatics; high-throughput experiments; optimal experimental design; random forests; genetic algorithms; Bayesian optimization

Subject

Engineering, Chemical Engineering

Comments (0)

We encourage comments and feedback from a broad range of readers. See criteria for comments and our Diversity statement.

Leave a public comment
Send a private comment to the author(s)
* All users must log in before leaving a comment
Views 0
Downloads 0
Comments 0
Metrics 0


×
Alerts
Notify me about updates to this article or when a peer-reviewed version is published.
We use cookies on our website to ensure you get the best experience.
Read more about our cookies here.