Jie Ding, T. Popa, Jinke Tang
Jul 15, 2017
Citations
1
Influential Citations
75
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Quality indicators
Journal
Applied Catalysis B-environmental
Abstract
Abstract Dimethyl oxalate (DMO) hydrogenation for ethylene glycol (EG) production is problematic due to environmental concerns and safety regulations. Therefore, development of improved methods for diethyl oxalate (DEO) hydrogenation based EG production is desirable. The objective of this research was to develop a cost-effective and environmentally benign approach for the synthesis of highly active and stable Cu/SiO 2 catalysts for selective hydrogenation of diethyl oxalate (DEO) to ethylene glycol (EG). Here, ammonium carbonate is used to prepare Cu/SiO 2 catalysts through deposition precipitation instead of the conventional pollution-producing evaporation process associated with the use of ammonia. The Cu/SiO 2 catalysts prepared with the new method achieved 6.9–13.1% higher selectivity and showed better stability. The improved stability and selectivity resulted from increased chemical adsorption of DEO and H 2 due to the high Cu 2 O concentration and Cu + /(Cu 0 + Cu + ) ratio (reduced from ion-exchanged Cu O Si units), and reduced carbon deposition on the Cu/SiO 2 catalyst. The Cu 2 O reduced from Cu O Si units in the Cu/SiO 2 catalyst prepared by the new method was more stable than the Cu + species reduced from copper phyllosilicate in the Cu/SiO 2 catalyst prepared by the conventional method. Therefore, the new Cu/SiO 2 catalyst preparation method appears most promising.