Catalytic study of the conversion of ethanol into 1,3-butadiene

Direct synthesis of 1,3-butadiene (BD) from ethanol has been studied using magnesia–silica catalysts doped with transition metal(oxide)s. The effects of Mg/Si ratio, the synthesis procedure, and the dopant concentration were studied. It was demonstrated that modification of the magnesia–silica binary system using a consecutive impregnation step significantly increases the ethanol conversion rate and BD yield. The BD yield higher than 55 mol.% was obtained at full ethanol conversion for materials containing Cu and Ag modifiers. The influence of the reaction temperature and the ethanol concentration in the feed was also investigated. This investigation led to high BD productivity (>0.15 gBD gcat−1 h−1) and high BD concentration in the product stream (>10,000 Vppm).

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► EtOH conversion to 1,3-butadiene has been studied over doped MgO/SiO2 catalysts.
► Selectivity to BD up to 50% has been recorded.
► Ag and CuO are favorite dopants to improve the catalytic performance of MgO/SiO2.
► Synthesis is preferably carried out according to a consecutive modification of silica.