Enhanced catalytic performance for SiO2–TiO2 binary oxide supported Cu-based catalyst in the hydrogenation of dimethyloxalate

•Si–Ti binary-oxide is firstly used as catalyst carrier to load copper.•Cu/SiO2-TiO2 shows much better performance than Cu/SiO2 and Cu/TiO2.•Much longer life time was observed.•The presence of interaction between copper and titanium.•SiO2 modulates the interaction in Cu/SiO2-TiO2.

Copper based catalyst with Si–Ti binary-oxide support is synthesized via a facile ammonia evaporation method for selective hydrogenation of dimethyloxalate (DMO) to ethylene glycol (EG). 100% conversion of DMO and 90% selectivity to EG could be obtained over the Cu/SiO2–TiO2 catalyst at high liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV). Catalytic stability is greatly enhanced when the Si–Ti binary oxide is used as support because of the intimate interaction between copper species and the support. The improved catalytic performance compared to the unitary oxide-supported catalysts SiO2 and TiO2 could be attributed to the highly dispersed copper species stabilized by the binary support. Also, the electron transfer from TiO2 to Cu-species is found to play an important role in improving the surface charge density of the metallic copper, which is helpful to improve the catalytic activity.

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