Silicon carbide foam decorated with carbon nanofibers as catalytic stirrer in liquid-phase hydrogenation reactions

•Silicon carbide foam decorated with a homogeneous layer of carbon nanofibers as structured catalyst.•High effective surface area and high metal–support interaction.•Easy catalyst/product recovery.•High stability as a function of cycling tests.

Silicon carbide solid foams decorated with a dense, homogeneous and mechanically strength layer of carbon nanofibers were successfully employed as catalyst support for the palladium active phase in the liquid-phase hydrogenation of CC bond. The carbon nanofibers provide a high density of anchorage sites for improving the dispersion of the metal nanoparticles compared to the pure SiC support where low metal–support interaction leads to the formation of larger palladium particles. The catalyst was directly used as a rotating foam catalytic stirrer and has shown a better catalytic performance in the liquid-phase selective hydrogenation compared to that obtained on a palladium deposited on a pristine SiC support. The macroscopic shaping of the catalyst also allows an easy product/catalyst separation after the reaction. The catalyst also displays an extremely high stability as a function of cycling tests as no hydrogenation activity lost was observed after ten cycling tests.

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