ABSTRACT
A high-throughput optical technique has been developed for the rapid screening of coking resistant composition-spread promoted-catalyst libraries during hydrocarbon cracking, in particular for Jet Propellant 8(JP-8) cracking. The libraries are screened by measuring changes in the catalyst's surface color due to the accumulation and burnoff of coke from the surface during JP-8 exposure and catalyst regeneration via oxygen burnoff. This rapid screening method was validated through a comparison of the coking properties of high-surface area powder cracking catalysts, and sputter deposited samples. Experiments on bimetallic (Pt-Gd) catalysts showed systematic trends consistently illustrating the superiority of Pt-Gd alloys to coking due to the presence of gadolinium.