New supported Pd catalysts for the direct transformation of ethanol to ethyl acetate under medium pressure conditions

The direct transformation of ethanol to ethyl acetate was studied over supported palladium catalysts with low palladium content (1%, w/w Pd) at 1 MPa pressure. SiO2, Al2O3, ZnO, SnO2 and WO3-ZrO2 (29%, w/w WO3) were used as supports. The catalytic behaviour of samples was related to the characteristics of the support and the presence of mono- or bimetallic entities. The best catalytic results were obtained with ZnO- and SnO2-supported catalysts, which can easily lead to alloyed palladium phases.