Products

Innovative Catalyst Carriers for Demanding Applications.

β-SiC Silicon Carbide

The distinctive qualities of our β-Silicon Carbide products derive from SICAT’s SiC process that produces a robust selfbonded Silicon Carbide with medium surface area allowing for an efficient dispersion of various catalytic active phases.

mesoC+™

SICAT engineered mesoC+ carbon pellets with a significant enhancement in mechanical strength compared to existing shaped activated carbons. Alongside its pore structure, high purity, and precisely crafted shapes, its mechanical resistance renders it exceptionally well-suited for catalyst supports.

Common main features of β-Silicon Carbide and mesoC+

Typical properties of standard products

Product	BET Surface Area	Microporous Surface Area	Pore Volume*	Crushing Strength**
SiC1	25 m²/g	<5 m²/g	0.40 cc/g	75 N/mm
SiC3	25 m²/g	<5 m²/g	0.55 cc/g	25 N/mm
SiC4	30 m²/g	<5 m²/g	0.55 cc/g	50 N/mm
mesoC+	320 m²/g	210 m²/g	0.40 cc/g	40 N/mm

* Measured by water absorption
** Grain method per ASTM D4179 & D6175 for 3mm pellets

Product properties

Click on “Our Solutions” or scroll down to learn more about the solutions we provide.

Problems
Our Solutions

Problems & Solutions

Aggressive chemical environment
Resistant carriers

High exothermicity / endothermicity
Outstanding thermal conductivity

Bulky molecules
Mesoporous carriers

Carrier-inherent impurities
High-purity carriers

Microwave-heated reactions
Highly sensitive carriers

1. Resistant carriers

Chemical resistance of SiC pellets to acids and bases

	Fresh β-SiC	HCI 37% 2 weeks	HCO₃ 70% 2 weeks	NaOH 10M 2 weeks
Weight change	-	- 0.3%	- 0.2%	- 1.3%
Crushing strength	82 N/mm	86 N/mm	82 N/mm	91 N/mm
BET Surface Area	25 m²/g	23 m²/g	25 m²/g	24 m²/g

Examples of the benefit of SiC stability in corrosive environments are given in the following publications:

US9758452
to The Chemours Company: SiC maintain its mechanical strength after prolonged use in presence of HF and HCl.

US8492583
to BP Corporation North America Inc.: SiC shows a good stability after weeks in an aqueous 20 wt % solution of terephthalic acid solution at about 275° C and 850 psig.

Hydrothermal stability of SiC pellets (H2O/55 bars/270°C)

2mm, HP - HO	Fresh	2 weeks	1 month	2 months	3 months
∆ weight (%)	-	1.0	1.1	0.8	0.9~ 1
Cr. Strength (N/mm)	20	23	22	25.4	21.3 18.4
BET S. Area (m2/g)	28	18	18	17	18 18-22

Examples of the benefit of SiC stability in hydrothermal conditions are given in the following publications:

WO/2014/140973
to SASOL Technology for slurry phase Fisher-Tropsch Synthesis under high partial pressure of H2O.

US7179764
to SICAT, CNRS and ULP showing the direct synthesis of zeolites on SiC carrier under hydrothermal conditions, leading to a strong interaction between the zeolite and the support

Resistance of β-SiC and mesoC+ (synthetic carbon) to oxidation

Stability of SiC in air is illustrated by the TGA (ThermoGravimetric Analysis) analysis performed under pure air. It shows a very good stability up to 700°C with a slow oxydation at higher temperature resulting in a slight increase of mass.

Stability of mesoC+ in air. The TGA (ThermoGravimetric Analysis) performed under pure air reported below shows a good stability up to 500°C. Of course, the product stability will depend on the operating conditions (composition of gaz or liquid phase, total pressure …), and may also be affected by the presence of a catalytic active phase. This could be further improved through «stabilisation».

2. Outstanding thermal conductivity

Thermal conductivity of the catalyst carrier is one of the critical parameter for controlling the effective temperature on the catalytic site for extensive thermal reactions and promoting an homogeneous and optimal temperature within the entire catalyst bed.

Our standard SiC1 product has an intrinsic thermal conductivity of ca. 4 W/m/K and an apparent conductivity of about 0.5 W/m/K for a bed of extrudates. These values are much lower than those published for dense SiC, but they remain more favorable compared to values for oxide supports with equivalent porosity. mesoC+ exhibits a thermal conductivity of the same order as measured on our SiC products.

doi 10.1016/j.apcatb.2021.119904
Elspeth M. Petersen, Radhika G. Rao, Brandon C. Vance, Jean-Philippe Tessonnier

“SiO2/SiC supports with tailored thermal conductivity to reveal the effect of surface temperature on Ru-catalyzed CO2 methanation”, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, Volume 286, 5 June 2021, pages 119904

3. Mesoporous carriers

Our beta-SiC carriers comprise high pore volumes made essentially of wide mesopores, wich can be supplemented by macropores when needed for further increase of the total pore volume and/or improvement of mass diffusion.

Our mesoC+ carrier combines a large volume of wide mesopores and some micropores that contributes respectivelly ca. 110 m²/g and 210 m²/g to the BET surface area.

Typical pore structures of our standard carriers are given below.

Product	BET Surface Area	Microporous Surface Area	Pore Volume*	Crushing Strength**
SiC1	25 m²/g	<5 m²/g	0.40 cc/g	75 N/mm
SiC3	25 m²/g	<5 m²/g	0.55 cc/g	25 N/mm
SiC4	30 m²/g	<5 m²/g	0.55 cc/g	50 N/mm
mesoC+	320 m²/g	210 m²/g	0.40 cc/g	40 N/mm

* Measured by water absorption
** Grain method per ASTM D4179 & D6175 for 3mm pellets

4. Available shapes

The large range of geometric shapes and sizes available for our SiC and carbon products allows for a case by case optimization of a combination of pressure drop, bed density and external surface area. In addition, the well controlled length of the pellets results in an homogeneous packing of the catalyst bed.

Other shapes can be developed on demand, such as honeycomb, beads, microspheres, open cell foams, 3D printed structures.

Standard Shapes

Cylinders

Ø 2/3/4/5/6,35mm

Multilobes

Ø 1,2/1,6mm trilobes
Ø 1,4/1,6mm quadrilobes

Rings

Øext. 5/6/8/13,2mm
Øint. 3/4/5/6/7/8mm
Thickness: 1,5mm mini

5. High purity Carbon and β-SiC carriers

Typical impurity levels are reported in the table below for the two different grades of SiC: HP = High Purity and P = Pure as well as for our mesoC+ synthetic carbon.

Typical content (ppm)	SiC-P	SiC-HP	mesoC+
Fe	400	40	10
Al	700	15	-
Ca	140	50	15
Na	80	80	50
K	100	70	150
Si	-	-	1000
S	50	50	300
% ash	-	-	0.3

6. β-SiC Highly sensitive to MicroWaves heating

Contrary to oxydes materials, SiC is well known for its ability to heat under microwave irradiation. This is illustrated by the below figure wich compares heating curves for our SiC carrier and a SiO2.

Comparative temperature profiles of our SiC and a SiO2 solids under Microwaves heating

Adapted from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2023.01.05 2 « Microwave-assisted methane cracking for clean hydrogen production in shale rock »

Keju Yan, Xiangyu Jie, Xiaoqiang Li, Juske Horita, Jacob Stephens, Jianli Hu, Qingwang Yuan, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy Volume 48, Issue 41, 12 May 2023, Pages 15421-15432)