Selective hydrogenation of acetone in the presence of benzene

• Competitive hydrogenation of acetone and benzene has been studied over metal catalysts.
• Selectivity to CO bond hydrogenation increases in the following order: Ni < Pt < Cu.
• Selectivity to isopropanol is higher on Cu/SiO2 than on Cu/Al2O3.
• Cu/SiO2 with 11 wt.% shows 100% selectivity at 91% conversion of acetone.

The competitive hydrogenation of acetone and benzene has been studied over Ni/SiO2, Pt/SiO2, Ru/SiO2 and copper containing catalysts: Cu/SiO2 with different copper content, Cu/Al2O3, copper chromite containing catalyst (CuCr2O4 × CuO). The catalysts were characterized by elemental analysis, X-ray diffraction, TEM, TPR of hydrogen and low-temperature adsorption of nitrogen. The catalytic experiments were carried out in a fixed bed reactor under atmospheric and elevated (2.5 MPa) pressure, in the temperature range of 130–250 °C. Cu-containing catalysts showed the highest selectivity to acetone hydrogenation in the presence of benzene. The best results in terms of activity and selectivity to isopropanol were obtained over Cu/SiO2 with 11 wt.% of copper at 170 °C and 2.5 MPa.

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