Abstract
This thesis aims at the geographical investigation of minerals found in the Greek area, suitable for the development of solid catalysts for the production of biofuels and green products. The minerals, we are going to study, are mordenite, bentonite / montmorillonite and attapulgite / palygorskite. The basic idea is to reduce the cost of production of catalysts to be used in large quantities for the production of biofuels and green products, either by exploiting the above minerals as catalysts themselves at a certain stage of biofuel production or, mainly, as carriers with a high specific surface area for the development of supported biofuel production catalysts. It is clear that as fossil fuels are exhausted and the need for biofuel production will become more and more imperative, more and more catalysts will be needed to speed up the processes involved. Also, the progressive depletion of petro-oil highlights the need to produce products from disposed biomass (green products). It would therefore be very useful if we could use the above minerals in the Greek area, giving them a high added value.
Advisory Committee
Kyriakos Bourikas, Assistant Professor at SST of HOU, (Supervisor)
Hrissi Karapanagioti, Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemistry at University of Patras
Christos Kordulis, Professor at the Department of Chemistry at University of Patras