Transport Properties of Catalyst Supports Derived from a Catalytic Test Reaction

1. Introduction Porous solids with bimodal pore structures are widely used as catalyst supports. Examples are formed bodies, such as tablets, beads, extrudates, and monoliths, of molecular sieves, silica and alumina. The formed bodies are prepared usually by compacting fine micro-or mesoporous particles [1]. As a result, macropores are formed between the agglomerated particles. Recently, catalyst supports on the basis of silica and silica-alumina with hierarchical bimodal pore structures were prepared by phase separation in a sol-gel process [2]. Zhang et al. [3] prepared catalyst supports with bimodal pore structures by introducing silica, zirconia or alumina sol into the macropores of silica gel pellets.