Rhodochrosite Use for Hydrocarbons

 While rhodochrosite has substantial value in the jewelry market as a gem that is believed to have healing and loving powers, it can also be used in the science of hydrocarbons.  One of the first steps towards this initiative is a patent issued in the United States in the 1970s.  The inventor, Joseph Miale, experimented with the idea of using a rhodochrosite cation treatment to create a catalyst for hydrocarbon conversions. Miale created two methods that allowed for such conversions: calcination or a base exchange procedure.  For calcination, the natural rhodochrosite mineral is arranged in a fixed bed while a fluid medium in the form of an aqueous solution passes through the bed at ambient temperature and pressure.  The fluid medium is comprised of hydrogen ions which exhaust and replace the alkali/alkaline earth metal cations.  The result is a highly acidic composite which must be washed until the distilled wash water is between a pH of 5 and 8.  The alternative and preferred method is a base exchange procedure.  For this treatment, a compound that provides hydrogen ions as a precursor is required.  An example of such a compound is ammonium ions.  The natural rhodochrosite mineral is treated with this compound, washed, and dried at temperatures between 100-300 degrees Fahrenheit. The mineral is then heated to a temperature below its decomposition temperature to convert the ammonium ions into hydrogen ions. For this method, it is possible to use a matrix as an auxiliary catalyst (Miale 1970). While this push for using rhodochrosite as a catalyst was very popular in the 1970s, their experiments found that it did not work as well as they had hoped.  This lead to the idea of using rhodochrosite as a precursor material for the catalysts.
An example of rhodochrosite as a precursor material can be found in the work of Giovanni Ferraris and team in a journal published in 2003.  Their work involved the use of copper-zinc manganites for reducing nitric oxide (\(NO\)) and nitrogen dioxide (\(NO_2\)) gases in the atmosphere by hydrocarbons.  Rhodochrosite was used as an ingredient in making the manganite catalysts for the hydrocarbons.  This procedure required a precursor precipitate with the chemical formula \(Cu_xZn_yMn_{\left(1-x-y\right)}CO_3\) with the copper and zinc being added to the rhodochrosite as solid solutions.  After calcination, the resulting composite had a formula of \(Cu_xZn_{\left(1-x\right)}Mn_2O_4\). This composite was then used a catalyst for hydrocarbon decomposition and therefore reduction of \(NO\) and \(NO_2\) gases.  The results confirmed that both manganites were effective catalysts for hydrocarbons being used in \(NO\) and \(NO_2\) gas reduction (Ferraris 2003)  Here it is noted how rhodochrosite may not be the most active catalyst when used alone but rather how the catalyst is more effective if rhodochrosite is a precursor ingredient.  One significant use of rhodochrosite is an ingredient for a catalyst for hydrocarbon conversions and decomposition which can be seen clearly via Ferraris' experiment.