Andreas Ehrmaier
PhD student
Catalysis Research Center and Chemistry Department
Technische Universität München
Lichtenbergstraße 4
85748 Garching, Germany
Curriculum:
| 2014 - 2019 | PhD student at TUM (Lehrstuhl für Technische Chemie II) under the supervision of Johannes A. Lercher |
| 2013 | Master's Thesis at UC Berkeley (Prof. Alexis Bell) Studies of olefin metathesis on Re Oxide catalysts |
| 2011-2013 | Studies of Chemistry (M.S.) at TUM |
| 2008-2011 | Studies of Chemistry (B.S.) at TUM |
| 2007-2008 | Civil service work with the ambulance, German Red Cross, Erding |
| 2007 | Abitur at Karl-Ritter-von-Frisch-Gymnasium, Moosburg |
Research:
Butene is a side product in the catalytic cracking processes. Since the 1950’s the technical needs for it increased, and so the butene fraction gained in interest. Besides the probably largest valorization process, the alkylation with i-butane towards highly branched C8 olefins, the formation of linear dimers became interesting, as well, especially for the production of PVC plasticizers. In general, dimerization of 1-butene is known to occur over solid acid catalysts. The formation of linear dimers, on the other hand, was reported to occur over homogeneous Ni complexes, involving a coordinative mechanism, which was adapted successfully to solid Ni catalysts as well. For my work, nickel exchanged zeolite catalysts are used for performing a 1-butene dimerization in liquid phase. It is the aim of this project to understand the catalytic steps and push the reaction towards a high selectivity for linear dimers.