Selective Hydrogenation of Acetylene over Pd, Au, and PdAu Supported Nanoparticles

The removal of trace amounts of acetylene in ethylene streams is a high-volume industrial process that must possess high selectivity of alkyne hydrogenation over hydrogenation of alkenes. Current technology uses metallic nanoparticles, typically palladium or platinum, for acetylene removal. However, problems arise due to the deactivation of the catalysts at high temperatures as well as low selectivities at high conversions. Pore expanded MCM-41 is synthesized via a two-step strategy in which MCM-41 was prepared via cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTMABr) followed by the hydrothermal treatment with N,N-dimethyldecylamine (DMDA). This material was washed with ethanol to remove DMDA, or calcined to remove both surfactants. PE-MCM-41 based materials were impregnated with palladium, gold, and palladium-gold nanoparticles. The removal of DMDA had an effect on both the conversion and selectivity, in which they were found to drop significantly. However, by using the bimetallic PdAu catalysts, higher selectivity could be achieved due to increased electron density