Vapor-phase selective hydrogenation of maleic anhydride to succinic anhydride over Ni/TiO2 catalysts

• Supported Ni/TiO2 are active catalysts for the hydrogenation of maleic anhydride.
• High yield of succinic anhydride is obtained on the catalyst calcined at 1023 K.
• Metal–support interaction considerably affects the property of Ni-based catalysts.

A series of supported Ni/TiO2 catalysts were prepared by incipient wetness impregnation method under different calcination temperatures, and the as-prepared catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), hydrogen temperature-programmed reduction (H2-TPR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The catalytic properties of these Ni/TiO2 catalysts were investigated in the vapor phase hydrogenation of maleic anhydride (MA) to succinic anhydride (SA). The results showed that the catalytic activity and the selectivity of the Ni/TiO2 catalysts were strongly affected by the calcination temperature. The catalyst calcined at 1023 K showed a relatively higher SA selectivity of 96% at high MA conversion (96%) under the tested conditions (493 K and 0.2 MPa). The improvement of SA selectivity could be mainly assigned to the presence of suitable metal–support interaction, which can play a role in catalytic property of active nickel species as electron promoter. Besides, the change of surface properties of TiO2 support with the increasing calcination temperatures, e.g., the decrease of Lewis acid sites, might also have some positive role in reducing the side-products like γ-butyrolacetone (GBL).

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