Selective hydrogenation of acetylene in excess of ethylene is an important process in the multi-billion polyethylene industry. Supported Palladium catalysts are used because of their high conversion. However, these catalysts suffer from relatively low selectivity of acetylene to ethylene due to over-hydrogenation of ethylene to ethane. Recently, studies have shown gold to be a good candidate to promote the performance of palladium catalysts by forming single Pd atom alloy. Using a two-step method developed by Zhang et al., we intend to create silica supported Pd-Au catalysts with varying loadings of palladium and 1-5% of gold. We will use multiple characterization methods, including CO chemisorption, CO in situ FTIR, and ICP analysis, to characterize the synthesized catalysts. The activity of catalysts will be tested using a feed gas mixture of hydrogen and ~1% acetylene in ethylene. Conversion and selectivity will be calculated using data obtained from analysis of the processed feed gas by a gas chromatograph.

Pd-Au alloy catalysts for selective hydrogenation of acetylene in ethylene

247th National Meeting (2014)

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